


The Wild Card

by tellezara



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series, Shin Megami Tensei Series, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Phoenix Wright Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 14:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tellezara/pseuds/tellezara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Response to Kink Meme request:</p><p>"I would kill a man or two for an AA/Persona 4 crossover.</p><p>Like how would each character's less-than-stunning traits manifest themselves? How would they react to seeing everything about themselves that they hate spread out in front of everyone? What would their Persona be?</p><p>And would there be characters who simply couldn't face themselves? Or characters who destroyed their Shadows instead of accepting them, like Mitsuo did?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wild Card

The alleyway was grimy, smelly, and really the last place Edgeworth wanted to be. But he was no stranger to this place now, with its overturned trash cans, broken glass and black bin bags heaped on top of one another. It was the faint blue light emanating from the alleyway that had drawn him here the first time around – years of investigating crime scenes had honed his senses for the unusual, and this had not exactly been hard to miss. The light tinted his pale face as he reached for the cravat around his neck, pulling it loose so he could pull out the heavy key that he’d grown used to having the weight of around his neck. It had only glowed the first time he discovered the door set into the wall of this alleyway, as if he needed any extra reassurance that the door was for his eyes only. He inserted the key into the lock – he didn’t need to turn it, just putting it in was enough for him to be able to push the door open. With relief he left the stink of the alleyway behind him, his brogues treading on soft carpet as he made his way towards the ornate wooden chair in the centre of the room he’d just entered.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room, Mr. Edgeworth.” The dulcet greeting was always the same, almost a comfort now.

“Igor,” Edgeworth nodded to the little man sat in the middle of the large blue velvet sofa, then took his seat on the wooden chair. Despite being made of wood, it was as comfortable as any of the sofas in the room. Through the windows, street lights whizzed past, countering the blue in the room with intermittent streaks of sodium yellow. Where the limousine they sat in was going, Edgeworth didn’t know, and when he had asked, neither had its occupants.

“How can we help you today, Mr. Edgeworth?” Margaret regarded him steadily. While she wasn’t as unnerving as some of the maniac women he’d met in his life (he immediately suppressed that reminder of Wendy Oldbag’s existence), her lack of contact with the outside world made her social interactions decidedly odd at times.

“I believe you had a good forecast if I were to fuse anything today?” Edgeworth dug in the breast pocket of his jacket, pulling out some cards and laying them on the mahogany table. As he did so, his hand gave an involuntary shake, and he pushed it against the table to still it.

Margaret saw it but said nothing, she just picked out two cards from the ones Edgeworth laid out and pushed them towards Igor. Edgeworth did nothing to stop her, for she had picked the exact ones he wanted fused. Despite her strange behaviour at times, she had a good understanding of him, and he had a feeling that if he continued to fulfil her requests that he fuse particular Personas, he might start to actually understand her.

“High Pixie,” Igor nodded, looking at the cards. “Yes, she will help against electricity attacks, certainly. And yes, today is a good day to be fusing cards of the Magician arcana.”

Edgeworth had known it would, and was lucky enough to have collected the right cards for it. They were weak Personas and he didn’t find the shuffle process particularly hard, he could keep track of the card he wanted, but after a long night running down corridor after corridor, there were times when his reflexes let him down and he just wasn’t able to snatch the correct card out of the air in time. Or in the case of last night, a well-aimed electricity attack had knocked him for six, and he hadn’t been able to coordinate himself at all, much to his frustration. If it hadn’t been for Kay running in (despite him telling her not to) and attacking the Shadow, Igor might not have seen his guest again. He reflexively suppressed that thought. He wouldn’t die if he came back stronger. He had to.

Igor passed his hands over the cards, and Edgeworth felt the hairs on his neck stand on end as the air ionised around them and the familiar buzzing sound of a fusion in process filled the room. Blue light bathed the three of them as the cards rose into the air, and Edgeworth automatically shut his eyes as the light flared.

“I am High Pixie. I shall do my best to give you support.”

Edgeworth opened his eyes and caught a brief glimpse of the High Pixie fluttering above them, before she descended and morphed back into a card, fluttering down onto the table.

“Good to know, seeing as I apparently need it,” he said, steadying his twitching hand with his other hand in order to take the card. It was warm to the touch, and as always when he took a card he’d fused, it was as if it were a part of him that was being returned to him, that belonged there.

Margaret was writing in the compendium, making a note of what he’d fused, but she looked up and asked, “Is there anything else you need?”

“I wanted to ask,” Edgeworth said hesitantly. “Am I the only one who can use more than one Persona?”

“Correct.” 

Edgeworth sighed. All she was doing was confirming what he suspected, but it wasn’t really what he wanted to hear – not after last night.

“Right. I’ll be going, then,” he got up from the chair.

“Until next time, Mr. Edgeworth,” Igor steepled his hands on the table and rested his chin on them, watching him leave.

The door clicked shut behind him.

“Our guest,” Igor said, “has difficult times ahead of him.”

Margaret just nodded, shutting her compendium.

“But he has a strong sense of what is right. I have faith that he will make the right choices.”

The limousine continued driving on a path to nowhere.

Edgeworth quickly pulled out his umbrella when he felt the first raindrops on his head. He had known it would rain today, and it would probably rain well into the night also. Forecasts dominated his life right now – weather forecasts, fusion forecasts, grim predictions about the future... he shook himself and stepped out of the alleyway. Now he’d finally learnt to stop holding onto the past, now was not the time to start worrying about the future. The here and now was Kay, back at his house. He had left her sleeping in one of the many spare bedrooms, and he really hoped she was awake now. Mainly because he wasn’t sure what to do otherwise. When he had emerged from the Thieves Lair, his first instinct had been to go and call an ambulance, but common sense overrode that. Shadow damage was not like regular knocks and bumps – yes, Shadows would hit him on occasion, and it hurt (a lot), but most damage they did was elemental, and the injuries he received seemed to heal quickly, even the punches from the Gigas types that sent him flying across the floor and made his face swell up. He had to hope it was the same for Kay.

“Mr. Edgeworth!” Kay exclaimed when he walked through the door. She was sitting on the sofa with the TV on, naturally watching the weather forecast  
.  
“Ah. You’re up and about.” Edgeworth hoped it sounded like he had been expecting that all along, rather than it actually being a huge relief to see her conscious and mobile.

“Sort of,” Kay pro-offered her hands, the extension action making them start to twitch violently.  
“That will get better,” he said, shoving his own hands into his pockets lest they betray him.

“I’m really bummed that they got me, actually,” Kay made a face. “Given all the other stuff we beat up could barely land a hit on me, never mind down me.”

“Just goes to show you’re not the untouchable thief you think you are,” Edgeworth retorted. “I told you not to run in and you still did it anyway.”

“Hey!” Kay protested. “You scared me, you know – and I don’t scare at many things. I thought they were gonna have you, can you blame me running in when you were lying on the floor twitching like a zombie? Besides, we’re a team now, you and me!” she grinned at him. “We’ll get to the bottom of what’s happening in the telly together – I’ve got your back!”

He couldn’t really argue against that, not when they had saved each other’s lives last night. He hadn’t known Kay for very long before she had disappeared into the TV, but he had learnt to trust her, even if she didn’t always manage to do the right thing, or had questionable motives. Margaret had emphasised that the relationships he shared with others strengthened the abilities of the Personas he carried, and during certain fusions Igor performed in the Velvet Room, he was strongly reminded of her.

“Well, I won’t get hit like that again,” he said, feeling the High Pixie card in his pocket.

He wished he could show Kay the card, but he knew she couldn’t see them. She had laughed at him last night, for his motion of picking a shuffle card looked as if he was conducting an imaginary orchestra.

“I hope not,” Kay said fervently. “If we both get knocked down like that again, we’ll be stuffed.”  
“You know your weakness now,” Edgeworth pointed out. “As long as I take point, the first hit on me will tell you what we’re dealing with.” 

He was just used to getting knocked about now – having access to a variety of Personae with different strengths and weaknesses had made him decidedly blasé even about facing fireballs head-on. It was a strange and oddly exhilarating sensation to feel the dry heat washing over him and yet not injuring him when infused with the power of Berith, who was completely immune to all fire-based attacks.

“You’re my meat shield, huh, Mr. Edgeworth?” Kay winked at him.

“Do you have to put it like that?” Edgeworth gave her a pained look.

“Well, it’s kinda true,” Kay sighed. “From last night I guess it’s kinda obvious that I don’t take punishment so well. Sucks when a thief gets caught out!”

“Your Persona will get more powerful, you know – the more Shadows you fight, the better she’ll be.”  
“Well, I wanna be useful, so we’ll just have to fight more!”

“Not tonight,” Edgeworth said, pulling back the curtains to look at the rain. “It will rain all night.”

“’And you should watch the Midnight Channel’,” Kay quoted with a laugh. “You’ve told me about it so often, it’s about time I got to watch it too!” 

“Perhaps there will be nothing on it, this time,” Edgeworth said thoughtfully.

“Because you got me out before the fog came?” Kay asked.

“Precisely. The fog came and went, your corpse didn’t show up, so the person who threw you into the TV must know that you were rescued. Perhaps they will give up.”

“I wish I remembered who they were,” Kay folded her arms, huffing with annoyance at herself that she couldn’t recall the face of the person she answered the door to on the day she had disappeared. “I bet they were watching me for ages, I’m rarely in the same place for more than a day or two so tracking me down is quite the achievement. In fact!” she declared, “I would like to find them just so I can tell them I respect their skill in hunting down the Master Thief!”

Edgeworth groaned.

“You don’t have to reveal your identity to every random person who’s out to kill you, you know.”

“Know your enemy, I say!” Kay picked up the remote control and flipped the channel from the weather forecast onto the news.

Edgeworth couldn’t be bothered to correct her misuse of the adage, so he went into the kitchen and made himself a cup of tea, keeping half an ear for the news broadcast.

“...and celebrations have occurred across Zheng Fa as the Zheng Fa dollar, for the first time in ten years, has held its own against the American dollar. Zheng Fa’s new president gave a speech stating that the economic recovery from the effects of corruption and counterfeiting has been slow but steady, and this was a milestone for the country.”

Edgeworth couldn’t help but allow himself a little satisfaction upon hearing that report. Bringing Quercus Alba down had been one of the more satisfying moments of his career. He finished making his Earl Grey tea, with a slice of lemon for good measure. He knew better than to offer Kay a cup, it would be wasted on her coffee-sodden tastebuds, but he cut some Swiss roll and put it on a plate for her. In the months since she had helped him bring down the smuggling ring, he had been sure to always keep a Swiss roll of some flavour or another in his fridge for her sporadic and unannounced visits.

He carried his tea and the plate of Swiss roll through only to find that in the short time he’d been in the kitchen, Kay had fallen asleep again. Evidently she was still tired from being knocked out the night before. He fetched a blanket from upstairs and spread it over her, loathe to move her when she needed to rest. He felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of sitting next to her on the sofa when she was sleeping, so he switched off the TV and drank his tea in the study, leafing through his notebook in which he’d written down everything they had found out so far about the world inside the television. Margaret’s Compendium had made him realise that he needed to compile one himself on how to survive. Most of it was a terrible scrawl, written in the early hours after periods spent exploring the Thieves Lair alone, when he had been frantically searching for Kay. He couldn’t draw to save himself, but nonetheless he endeavoured to sketch the Shadows he had encountered and make a note of their weaknesses and attacks. He had been too twitchy the night before to be able to write anything, his attempts showing as a page of jerky scribbles and rips in the paper. Now he sketched the Shadows that had nearly killed them both last night – lumps of rock were at least easy to draw. They had more powerful electrical attacks than anything he’d faced before, it was as if removing Kay’s Shadow self from the dungeon had allowed other Shadows to move in on the upper levels.

He also wrote about Kay’s Persona, drawing a picture of it. It was cat-like, a little to her disappointment as she would’ve loved for it to be a crow. But like Kay, Sekhmet was nimble on her feet and stealthy – Kay had survived in the TV world alone by creeping past the Shadows one by one. She could shred Shadows into ribbons with her claws, and one of her attacks had instantly vaporised two of the rock Shadows that had been attacking him the night before, turning the tide of battle. But Sekhmet’s attacks didn’t always work. Edgeworth suspected they were light-based, he had learned of light and dark attacks by reading Margaret’s compendium, but had avoided fusing any Persona with them up until now because it was only a chance of an instant kill on a Shadow. And when running around on his own, he couldn’t afford to deal in chances.

His phone buzzed to remind him that it was five minutes to midnight. He returned to the lounge and gently shook Kay to wake her, knowing she’d be immensely peeved to miss out on the opportunity to watch the Midnight Channel, even if there was nothing on it.

“It’s time,” he said.

Kay rubbed her eyes sleepily, sitting up on the sofa. Edgeworth pulled the curtain on the window aside again. It was still raining. The grandfather clock in the hallway began to toll midnight, and Edgeworth went and stood in front of the TV, staring at it.

“You’re in the way!” Kay complained.

“Oh,” Edgeworth took a few steps back and sat on the sofa next to her, eyes still fixed on the TV. “That’s not normally something I have to consider,” he admitted.

There was a whining noise and the sound of static. He heard a sharp intake of breath from Kay as they saw the faint outline of a figure in the swirling static. It persisted for a few moments, then the whole scene faded and the TV screen was once more blank.

“There was somebody there!” Kay exclaimed.

“Yes,” Edgeworth sighed, sitting back against the plush leather of the sofa and rubbing his tired eyes. He thought about the image for a moment, and then he suddenly groaned.

“What? What?” Kay asked.

“I’ve just realised who it is,” Edgeworth slumped down in his seat, staring at the ceiling.

“Who? C’mon, tell me, we can try and save them before the killer gets to them!”

Edgeworth’s head lolled to one side. He looked at Kay, a resigned expression on his face.

“I’d know that hangdog slouch at a hundred paces,” he said. “It’s Detective Gumshoe.”

“Gummy?” Kay said in dismay. “What are we going to do?”

“Thing is,” Edgeworth said, looking back up at the ceiling again, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do.”

“But why not? Can’t we just warn him, or something?”

“This is Gumshoe we’re talking about. I could order him to stay at the precinct, but it’s a near certainty that through some stupid series of events or another he would end up leaving. I could order him to stay with me and he would somehow manage to lose me – remember what happened at Gatewater Land? There’s no hope for him, honestly.”

“Wow, you sure don’t have much faith in him,” Kay said sadly.

“Come on, you know me better than that,” Edgeworth said reproachfully. “I have every bit of faith in him... to royally screw up. That’s something we can rely on, so we might as well work with it.”

Kay thought about this for a few moments.

“I’m sorry, Gummy!” she said aloud to nobody in particular. “I want to believe in you, I really do! ...But you’re right, Mr. Edgeworth.”

“I know I am,” he said smugly. “Work with a man for nine years and you get to know what makes him tick.”

“But it does feel wrong to sit back and let it happen,” Kay said, looking a little troubled.

“I agree,” Edgeworth sat up, folding his arms. “And there is one thing we can do to make him difficult to get to.”

“Which is?”

“Well, it’s rather drastic, and he’s not going to like it...”

***

“I’m sorry, Boss, I really am!” Gumshoe protested. “I just don’t understand how it happened!”

“I understand exactly how it happened, Detective!” Edgeworth snapped. “ _You_ happened!”

“But I swear, Mr. Edgeworth, I didn’t mean to-“

“Don’t say another word if you want to keep even a bit of your salary for the next year,” Edgeworth left the threat hanging, and Gumshoe finally took the hint, falling silent.

“Then again, if I dock your pay any more, you’ll be going beneath the minimum wage and I’ll have HR hounding me on top of having to arrange for all this mess to be cleaned up,” Edgeworth waved a hand irritably at the collapsed bookshelves, the splintered remains of the book ladder Gumshoe had been standing on when it broke, the scattered chess pieces and the broken chess table that had a mahogany shelf lying half across it. “So I have no choice but to revert to the disciplinary procedures of old,” he continued.

“Uh...” Gumshoe looked at him nervously. “What procedures, Boss?”

“Yes, when disciplining an officer one can choose to confine him within the detention centre for such a period of time as one sees fit,” Edgeworth folded his arms, regarding Gumshoe with a severe look. “And this destruction of my office with your clumsiness warrants a good few days of cooling your heels, in my book.”

Gumshoe’s face fell.

“But Boss... what about your investigations?” he asked.

“I think I can survive without your incompetence for a few days,” Edgeworth said loftily. “Who knows, maybe a few days of not charging around crime scenes will get you using your brain a bit more?”

Gumshoe had the kicked-puppy look on his face, which normally failed to inspire any remorse in Edgeworth at all when disciplining him for his screwups. But the knowledge that this entire scenario had been carefully engineered by giving Kay a few hours in the office with a toolbox left him feeling a little guilty. 

_It’s for his own good,_ he told himself.

After all, Kay had promised him that the damage would be mostly reversible, but she hadn’t accounted for Gumshoe being... well, Gumshoe. He had grabbed hold of the bookshelf when the ladder collapsed beneath him, and the resultant destruction gave Edgeworth a much more legitimate reason to be tearing strips off the Detective than just having broken the book ladder.

“Now get out of my office, Detective. You know where you’re going.”

“...Yes, Boss,” Gumshoe turned around and trudged out of the room.

As he left, Edgeworth mentally drew an outline around the Detective, tracing his slumped shoulders and slightly lowered head. Yes, there was no doubt about it, it had been his silhouette in the static on the Midnight Channel. He closed the door with a sigh.

“That was pretty harsh, I feel kinda bad,” Kay said, scaring the living daylights out of him.

“For God’s sake, Kay, do you have to just appear out of nowhere like that?!” Edgeworth said exasperatedly, wheeling around to find her head peeping around the tied back curtains over his window.

“It’s what I do,” Kay grinned at him, carefully edging past the Steel Samurai sat on the bookshelf in front of the window and dropping down easily onto the floor. “But yeah, that was definitely a case of being cruel to be kind. Poor old Gummy!”

“He has just destroyed half my office, you know,” Edgeworth pointed out.

“Well, yeah,” Kay surveyed the damage. “But it’s kinda fixable. Most of it. Some of it. Er. Maybe a bit of it.”

“Hurricane Gumshoe strikes again,” Edgeworth lifted the mahogany shelf off the chess table, surprised to find he could actually lift it without a huge amount of effort. His forced return to fencing in the name of defending himself appeared to have improved his upper body strength more than he had anticipated. That rather pleased him, actually.

Kay righted the chessboard, and Edgeworth began picking up the red pieces. He was suddenly reminded of the time Gumshoe had pointed out there were too many red knights on the board. He did still owe Gumshoe a teaching game. Perhaps it’d be compensation for locking him up.

“So when will it be safe to let him out of detention?” Kay asked him, giving him a handful of blue chess pieces.

“Well, I can’t actually keep him in there,” Edgeworth said.

“Huh?”

“What I said about alternative disciplinary procedures is complete nonsense. I can’t legally confine him in there with no charge. I just relied on him believing me and following orders.”

“Oh.” Kay picked up some more pieces. “Wait, you never told me that before we did this! What’s to stop him from just walking straight back out again?”

“I told the Detention Centre staff that he’d signed up for a training session involving spending a few days there as an inmate.”

“Seriously?”

“I even told them he’d have been given a pre-prepared scenario for why he was being sent there,” Edgeworth smirked.

“Mr. Edgeworth,” Kay stood up straight, clapping a hand to her chest, “I feel you’re finally becoming a man after my own heart!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“The layers of deception, they are beautiful! As the Yatagarasu, I commend you in your dishonesty!”

“...I’m not sure how to feel about that.”

“Hey, they’ll feed him in the jail, right?”

“Correct.”

“It’ll probably be a feast compared to what he has normally, so you shouldn’t feel bad really.”

“...Hm.” Edgeworth conceded. The Detective’s pay cuts required a careful approach, maximising Gumshoe’s efficiency without tipping him into the eating cardboard portion of the poverty line.

“So do you reckon a few days will be enough to put the killer off?”

“Hopefully. It’s going to rain again tomorrow night, and you appeared just the once in the static on the Midnight channel before I saw you properly. So if that applies here also, then the Detective would have to be somehow thrown into the television world by tomorrow night.”

“Actually, that’s something that’s been bugging me,” Kay said. “You recognised Gummy in a heartbeat when he appeared on the Midnight Channel. So how come you didn’t contact me before I got chucked into the TV?”

“You’re damn hard to track down when you want to be, you know,” Edgeworth injected a note of frustration into his voice. “If you answered your phone once in a while then maybe you wouldn’t have ended up in the TV in the first place. I did recognise you, and I tried to call you.”

“Ah. My bad,” Kay said sheepishly, tugging at her scarf. “Guilty as charged, guv’nor! I was kinda... doing something.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“It wasn’t stealing! I don’t think...”

“Again, not information I need.” Edgeworth surveyed his office. “Right, help me pick these books up, and then we can leave this room to Estates and Facilities to fix up.”

“But that’s honest work,” Kay protested.

“About time you had some!”

That evening, from the tiny window in his cell, Gumshoe watched Kay and Edgeworth cross the carpark. They were talking together, Edgeworth making the occasional gesture, while Kay tugged the key out of her hair and swung it around merrily, nearly hitting Edgeworth in the face with it. The Detective slumped down onto the thin mattress on the foldout bed in his cell, regarding the Blue Badger costume that lay in a sad heap in one corner of the cell. The Detention Centre was full, and this cell, that they just stored miscellaneous things in, had been hurriedly cleaned out for his arrival. For whatever reason, the Blue Badger had been left there – perhaps the duty Sergeant had felt a little sorry for him and left it there as some kind of reminder that he’d done good things for the department in the past. It was an old design, the Police Chief’s original, before the Blue Badger had been redesigned and gained his companions, Pink Badger and Proto Badger.

“You’ve moved onto bigger and better things, haven’t you, pal?” Gumshoe said to the Blue Badger costume, thinking about Gatewater Land.

Needless to say, there was no response. Gumshoe curled up on the bed, closing his eyes. Alone with his thoughts, it was going to be a long night. Even with his greatcoat on, the cell was cold. He opened one eye, regarding the Blue Badger outfit. It was warm and fleecy, so he grabbed it and spread it over himself, finding it was a better blanket than the scratchy grey police-issue one. It took a long time, but eventually dreams reclaimed him. Perhaps everything would be better tomorrow.

***

“Your Detective didn’t even last the night, Mr. Edgeworth,” the Detention Centre Sergeant said when Edgeworth dropped by the next morning.

“What?!” Edgeworth paled.

“Well the cell was empty when I clocked in this morning so I’m assuming he couldn’t hack it and got the night Sergeant to let him out.”

“No, no, you don’t understand,” Edgeworth said, immediately making for the door to the cells. “If I tell the Detective to do something, he does it. I told him he was going there for three days, and that’s what he would do, without question.”

The Sergeant shrugged. “Well, he’s not in there, and it looks like some delivery boxes have been stored in there instead. I don’t know, maybe the night Sergeant needed the cell and let him out? We lost the key to the storeroom yesterday so we can’t put any boxes in there till it’s found.”  
“Delivery boxes?”

“Yeah, we’re open 24 hours so we take stuff for the Prosecutor’s building when it’s shut. Actually,” the Sergeant flipped through the logbook. “I think one of the boxes in there is addressed to you, Mr. Edgeworth, might be the one that was a bit ripped in transit.”

Edgeworth was gone, the door to the cells banging behind him.

The ripped-open box had been pushed under the gap in the cell door that was used to push through food trays. Edgeworth saw the indentation in the box where a pole of some sort had been used to push the box the length of the room, to just in front of the bed. Inside the box was a flatscreen television, one of the wall-mounted types, just thin enough to fit beneath the door. It didn’t take much of a leap of logic to deduce that it was just the right size for a half-asleep Gumshoe to inadvertently step on if he had been woken up and asked to come to the door of the cell.

“You clever bastard,” Edgeworth murmured under his breath. He hated to give the killer any credit, but this was well-executed. Addressing the package to him was just an invitation for him to try and do something about it.

It was not an invitation he had any intention of refusing.

***

“So the killer knows you can get into the TV world?” Kay asked later that afternoon.

“It would appear so, yes,” Edgeworth was sat at his desk, going through personnel files.

“I suppose it’d be pretty easy to figure out if they’d been tracking Gumshoe,” Kay reasoned. “The day after he shows up on the Midnight Channel, you stick him in the detention centre – not hard to put two and two together, really.”

“Absolutely correct, but the information we’ve gained from doing this is invaluable,” Edgeworth flipped over another file. “We have now ascertained that the killer knows the precinct and is able to access information about his target fairly rapidly. He clearly has some technology at his disposal.”

“But now he knows who you are, that makes you an easy target,” Kay pointed out. “You should be careful, Mr. Edgeworth, the killer might try and attack you!”

“What are they going to do? Throw me into a TV?” Edgeworth scoffed. “And I don’t think they would do something that would make them culpable for homicide in the real world, either - our killer is a coward. A clever coward, but a coward nonetheless. Why dirty your hands killing someone when the Shadows can do it for you?”

“Poor Gummy,” Kay sighed. “I wish we could go and get him right now.”

“We have to wait until he appears on the Midnight Channel,” Edgeworth had explained this to her earlier and he said it again for good measure. “So don’t go rushing off on your own – you won’t know where to go.”

“I know, I know. I just feel like we should be doing something!”

“We are – finding out the killer’s identity.”

“Have you found something in the files?”

“A few people we should interrogate,” Edgeworth tapped the small pile of files to his left, while reading through another. “But it might not necessarily be someone who works here, it might be an ex-officer, or someone who’s retired. But we’ve narrowed down the search thanks to the new information we have.”

“What about the guy who delivered the TV to the Detention Centre?” Kay nodded at the television, which was now set up in one corner of Edgeworth’s office. He figured that as it had been sent to him, he might as well keep it – although he had it thoroughly checked inside and out to ensure it hadn’t been tampered with in any way. Unsurprisingly, there were no fingerprints on the box it came in. The killer had been very clean.

“I can’t find out anything about him until the Night Sergeant gets here,” Edgeworth said. Rousing the man from his bed would have raised some questions, so he’d opted to wait until the Sergeant clocked in for his shift.

His telephone rang.

“Delivery for you, Mr. Edgeworth,” said the officer at the other end.

“Another...?” Edgeworth frowned. “Scan it, x-ray it, make sure it’s nothing suspicious.”

“We’ve already done that, sir,” the officer replied. “It appears to be a pair of knee-high boots?” his tone was questioning.

“Boots...? Oh!” Edgeworth suddenly realised what they were. “Ah, er, send them up.”

“...Are you planning to wear them, sir?”

Edgeworth flushed, suddenly realising what the officer was implying.

“That’s absolutely not what I’m going to do with them!” he replied indignantly, putting the phone down. “Humph, I wish Lang was still around – the officers were much more disciplined back then.” He turned to Kay. “The boots I ordered off that shopping channel have arrived for you.”

“Oh cool!” Kay flashed him a thumbs up. “Cheers for the gift!”

“Hm,” Edgeworth said noncommittally, returning to his files.

An officer arrived with the package in short order, and Kay tried them on gleefully. They were a good fit, with solid rubberised soles that offered a bit of resistance to electrical attacks.

“I think I can kick some Shadow butt with these,” Kay did a little pirouette.

“Good. Now shush, I’m reading.”

“Fine, I’ll get going then. See you back at yours tonight for some Midnight Channel viewing!” Kay climbed up onto the windowsill.

“You could exit through the door like a normal person,” Edgeworth commented.

“Normal’s totally overrated,” Kay retorted, lifting the sash and climbing out, hoisting herself up onto the roof. Then she was gone.

Edgeworth sighed, then picked up another file. A few hours later, the telephone rang again. 

“That’s me just clocking off, Mr. Edgeworth,” the Day Sergeant said.

“Good, I’ll be down shortly.”

But the Night Sergeant could tell him little of use.

“I dunno, he was just your average delivery guy,” the Night Sergeant shrugged.

“Did he not even have an embroidered logo of his delivery company on his shirt? A company hat?” Edgeworth asked, growing frustrated. “Come on, Sergeant, you’re not paid just to hand people the log book and a pen.”

“Well, now that you mention it, I don’t think he had any logos on anywhere. He did have a hat but he kept it pulled well down.”

“What did he sound like?”

“Uh, he didn’t say much. He just said he had a package to deliver and offered to store it for me as it was big and I was alone at the desk. He wasn’t from around here, though. His accent was a bit off.”  
“Can you remember anything else?”

The Night Sergeant racked his brains.

“Ah! He beeped a lot,” the Sergeant was proud of himself for remembering that.

_Does every officer in the precinct share the same braincells as Gumshoe?_

“And the source of the beeping?”

“Ah, yes, he carried a thingy. That beeped.”

“That’s very helpful, Sergeant,” Edgeworth rolled his eyes. “What was the ‘thingy’?”

“Well, I don’t know, sir. I’m not very good with technology. I asked him about it and he said it was just a GPS system. I didn’t think much of it. Delivery drivers get lost sometimes, don’t they?”

A memory from years ago stirred in Edgeworth’s mind, and suddenly everything fell into place.  
“Right. Very good, Sergeant. You may get back to your duties.”

The Sergeant saluted him, and then Edgeworth was out the door as fast as his legs could carry him. He dug in his pocket for his mobile and dialled a number.

“Little brother?” the voice at the other end of the phone was surprised. “What kind of foolish thing are you phoning me about at this time of night?”

“A totally inconsequential thing, dear sister,” Edgeworth tried to sound casual. “Detective Gumshoe has gotten himself lost somewhere.”

“Why are you phoning to tell me this? The man’s a fool, he gets lost all the time.”

“Well, yes, but I wondered if perchance you had taken that transponder off him or not? It certainly would make it much easier to track him down if he still had it.”

“Hmm, now that was a long time ago,” Franziska thought for a moment. “It was a waterproof one so even on the offchance he washed that awful trenchcoat of his it’d still be responding. If the batteries haven’t run out, I don’t see why not. That fool never empties his pockets. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he still hasn’t realised that it’s even there,” her tone coloured with amusement.

“Thankyou, Franziska. I’ll let you go now.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you promise to buy me dinner, little brother. One good deed deserves another, don’t you think?”

Edgeworth agreed to this and they set a time and a place. He hadn’t seen her since the end of her placement with Interpol, and he wondered if perhaps a catchup with her might give a boost to a few of his fusions.

***

“How they knew he had that, I don’t know,” Edgeworth said to Kay as he served up their dinner. “But I’m almost certain that delivery man had a device to track the Detective’s transponder, and that’s how they knew his whereabouts all this time.”

“So the delivery guy must be our man!” Kay took her plate of spaghetti. “Now we just need to figure out who he is and track him down!”

“The delivery man might not be ‘our man’,” Edgeworth cautioned her. “He could be just a middleman given instructions on what to do.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing, right?”

“Well, yes, but don’t get too excited. He could be anybody.”

“But we didn’t have a clue who the killer was this time yesterday, and now we know how they tracked down Gummy, and we know the delivery guy has something to do with it. So really, we’ve made good progress!” Kay’s optimism was a little infectious, and Edgeworth couldn’t help but feel hopeful that they were closer to finding the killer’s identity.

They ate dinner and watched the weather forecast. Rain, rain and more rain. Edgeworth was beginning to understand the pattern now. It would rain, and then it would be mostly clear for a week or two. That was their window in which they could rescue Gumshoe from wherever he had ended up. After that, the fog would come down on Los Angeles, and if they hadn’t gotten Gumshoe out in time... he didn’t want to think about that.

“What do you think Gummy will look like on the Midnight Channel?” Kay asked, as the hour ticked closer to midnight. 

“He will look like who he wants to be,” Edgeworth said.

“I know, that’s why my Shadow was dressed as the Jammin’ Ninja, ‘cause I was worried about whether being a thief was still the right thing to be doing or not. But who do you think he wants to be, is what I’m asking.”

“I don’t know,” Edgeworth admitted. “The Detective doesn’t really aspire to much.” 

“Well hey, here’s your chance to find out all about his hidden dreams!” Kay gestured to the TV.  
The clock tolled midnight, and the television began to emit static.

“Welcome, ladies and gents, boys and girls, we hope you’re on the edge of your seats for tonight’s episode of the hit show, Bust-A-Criminal, starring everyone’s favourite crime-fighting hero, Detective Dick!” a crackly voiceover filled the room.

“Hey there, pals!” Gumshoe waved from the screen. He wore a jaunty black trilby hat with a silver band, and his trenchcoat was black instead of muddy brown, much more form-fitting and stylish. He stood in a room full of TV screens showing various CCTV images.“Don’t you worry, I’ll clear the streets of crime so you can sleep safely in your beds at night! Cat-thieves might think they’re the cat’s meow, drugs barons might think they’re lord of the manor, but they ain’t got a chance against Detective Dick!”

The image faded back into static again. Edgeworth smacked his forehead into his palm.

“I should’ve guessed,” he groaned.

“Hey, you can hardly blame him for dreaming about doing things right,” Kay said, sitting up on the sofa and stretching. “So whaddaya reckon, do we have an idea of where to find him?”

“Some kind of security station, judging by all the CCTV paraphernalia,” Edgeworth said. “Maybe even the Midnight Channel version of the precinct.”

“Nah, I don’t reckon it’ll be the precinct,” Kay said. “Every hero has a secret base! Like my Lair.”

“I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to get to wherever he is,” Edgeworth folded his arms, thinking. “The fog is thick in the TV world, it’s hard to know where you’re going unless you have some visual indicator, like the Yatagarasu cards I found when I was searching for you.”

“Well, you’ve got me and Little Thief this time around!” Kay pulled the device from her pocket. “I tinkered around with it today and if it works, we can pull up a map of where we’ve walked so we don’t go round in circles.”

“I knew there was a reason I kept you around.”

“Oh come on, I’m no deadweight and you know it!” Kay humphed. “Teammates, right?” she held her hand up for a high five.

“This isn’t primary school, Kay.”

Kay sighed, dropping her hand. “I need Gummy for my high fives,” she said sadly. “He never leaves me hanging!”

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Edgeworth promised. “We’ll go in and have a look round. But now we both need to sleep.”

***

It was hard, sometimes, keeping on top of his day to day work while trying to keep his other activities secret. He struggled through the day’s cases, which were fortunately straight forward and the defence attorneys he was up against barely had a leg to stand on in the face of the evidence against their defendants. His clothes covered up the worst of the injuries he received from the Shadows, but it was more the tiredness that got to him sometimes. He hadn’t slept much during the night, turning over Gumshoe’s kidnapping in his mind and trying to think of any other way he and Kay could have prevented it. He had drawn a blank, and his mind had wandered, as it did now, to Gumshoe’s Shadow as it had appeared on the Midnight Channel. After rescuing Kay, he had realised that it wasn’t her appearing on the Midnight Channel, but her Shadow self. There was no reason for it to be any different for Gumshoe. But it wasn’t the Shadow’s appearance that bothered him – it was more the reason for its existence. Gumshoe was very accepting of the fact that he was a run-of-the-mill detective, unlikely to be ever considered for a promotion, never mind media recognition. He made up for it with loyalty, an occasional flash of instinct, and more importantly, a sense of what was right. Edgeworth relied on being able to take Gumshoe completely at face value in everything the Detective said and did, knowing Gumshoe rarely thought beyond that sort of level. But the existence of his Shadow indicated that there was a layer to Gumshoe that Edgeworth had not been aware of, and worse, did not understand.

He picked up Kay from the city centre, and she climbed into the car, carrying a cardboard box. She was already wearing her new boots, on the basis that they needed breaking in before running around in them inside the TV.

“These seem pretty good,” she opened the cardboard box and lifted the bubblewrapped packages, unwrapping them carefully. “I just hope I won’t have to use them much.”

They were a pair of nunchucks, solid and hefty with a chain running between them. Edgeworth didn’t ask where she got them from. It wasn’t something he wanted to deal with.

“There’ll be times when you’re facing a Shadow and you just have to hit them,” Edgeworth said. It was frustrating, for he was not great with a rapier, but sometimes Shadows would dodge all attacks other than a good stab of cold steel.

He drove them back to the house, and they climbed inside the TV. Edgeworth went first, carefully dropping down onto the floor of the studio-cum-foyer of the TV world. The fog was thinnest here, allowing him to see a little of the eerie world they were visiting. Shafts of light from the overhanging arclights penetrated the mist, illuminating railings, platforms and balconies. There was another door to the Velvet Room here, soft blue light contrasting the harshness of the arc lights and the yellowish hue of the room. Kay couldn’t see it, he had discovered the first time they had come here together.  
“Hey! Whaddaya think you’re doing!”

Edgeworth whirled at the sound of the voice, not Kay’s.

“NGOOOH!” he took a step backwards in shock, bumping against the tower of televisions he had just exited from, which swayed violently. 

“Aaaahhh!” Kay cried out as the pile of TVs toppled, she had just been climbing through the topmost one, making the pile top-heavy, and with the fall of the tower she fell right out of it, landing in a heap on the floor as the TVs came crashing down, smashing into pieces.

Edgeworth was staring at the _thing_ in front of him.

“Why the bloody hell are you in here?” he said in a strangled voice.

“I could ask the same of you!” the Blue Badger said grumpily. “In fact, I just might – what are you doing here?”

“...Apparently hallucinating,” Edgeworth said weakly.

“No, you’re not, I see it too,” Kay said, picking herself up and brushing bits of splintered wood and broken glass from her skirt.

“I am not a hallucination!” the Blue Badger said indignantly. “And you, both of you, in fact, are intruding on my privacy! Go away, and leave me in peace!”

Edgeworth frowned, staring at the Blue Badger. It was too small to be Gumshoe in disguise, and common sense dictated that there was no way the Detective would be so easily accessible anyway. It hadn’t attacked them, so it wasn’t an enemy, as far as he could tell.

“So who are you, then?” he asked.

“What do you mean, who am I?” the Blue Badger wagged a finger at him. “Stop talking in riddles.”

“Well, are you a Shadow?”

The Blue Badger shivered.

“No, certainly not!” it said.

“Do you have a name?”

The Blue Badger thought about this for a minute.

“Why do I need a name?” it asked.

“You’re not a person if you don’t have a name,” Edgeworth said, realising he had bamboozled it with his question.

“Oh. But I am a person!” it protested.

“Then you need a name. Kay!” he called out.

“Uhh,” Kay tried to think of one. “Ugh, it looks like the Blue Badger, I can’t think of anything else other than that!”

“I’m a Blue Badger?” the Blue Badger asked.

“Oh, that’ll do, we don’t have time to waste. Listen,” Edgeworth said to the Badger, “we’re looking for a... a friend of ours. He might have been thrown into this foyer area last night. Have you seen him?”

“Oh. Funny you should say that,” said the Badger, “I woke up here last night too! But I was all alone,” it said sadly.

Edgeworth filed that away as something to follow up later.

“Great, so you can’t tell us anything useful, then?” he said impatiently.

“Well, you asked me a difficult question!” the Blue Badger complained. “Ask me an easy question, then I might be able to help you.”

“Have you tried leaving this area?” Edgeworth asked.

The Blue Badger nodded. “But it’s dangerous out there!” it said, flapping its arms at Edgeworth. “You shouldn’t go out there!”

“Well, we have to, because we’re looking for somebody and they’re not here.”

“You’re going to leave me?” the Blue Badger looked up at him. Its facial expression was fixed because of the way the outfit was designed, but somehow it managed to look sad.

“You just told us to go away before,” Kay said.

“...I didn’t mean it really,” said the Badger. “It’s terribly lonely here, and I can sense the Shadows that are everywhere else. Won’t you stay with me?”

“Wait... you can sense the Shadows?” Edgeworth said slowly.

“Well, of course. Can’t you?”

Edgeworth and Kay exchanged glances.

“We can’t, so that makes you pretty special,” Kay said. “Why don’t you come with us and help us find Gummy?”

“But... we’ll all die,” the Badger’s voice quavered.

“Wow, you’re a shining bundle of optimism,” Kay folded her arms, looking at the Badger. “We’ll be fine, don’t worry! We can fight the Shadows, you know,” she thumped her fist to her chest proudly.

“You’ll protect me?” the Badger asked. “Promise?”

“Promise!” Kay shook hands with the Badger. Its hand was warm and fluffy to the touch.

Edgeworth was looking at the remains of the stack of televisions he had inadvertently knocked over. The bottom one was still okay, but there was a large crack in it. Experimentally he tried to put his hand through it. It wouldn’t go. It appeared that the television had to be in good working order for him to be able to go through it. He cursed under his breath. They would have to find another way out. Kay hadn’t seen him do it, so he said nothing to her – they could focus on that later.

“Let’s depart,” he said, buckling on his fencing rapier and donning his protective fencing vest. It didn’t protect against anything elemental but at least stopped certain Shadows from slashing his chest open.

“Right, to Gummy, or bust!” Kay opened her bag, grabbing Little Thief. She pressed a few buttons on it, and it started to beep quietly, tuned to the Detective’s transponder. The beeps had a long gap in between them. “Looks like he’s a long way away.” She scanned the foyer, looking for the nearest exit in the correct direction. “This way!” she pointed.

But the walkway lead to a dead end, and they were forced to return to the foyer.

“We’ll just have to find another way to get over in that direction,” Kay said.

“It’s incredibly frustrating not being able to see whether a route is viable or not,” Edgeworth said. “This blasted fog!”

The Blue Badger had picked up a large fragment of broken glass from the floor. It was from the screen of one of the broken TVs.

“What were you doing inside that box anyway?” it asked, pointing at the TV they had climbed through.

“We weren’t technically inside it, we were climbing through it,” Edgeworth explained. “It’s our way of getting into this world.”

“But, I looked at those boxes and there was nobody inside them, and then you suddenly appeared! WHOA!” the Badger exclaimed as he held up the fragment of glass, looking through it. “The fog, it’s gone! Hey, hey, try this!” it said, handing over the glass fragment.

Dubiously, Edgeworth held it up and looked through it, then made a noise of surprise. When viewing through the glass of the TV, the fog thinned greatly. With this improved visibility he could see that the majority of exits from the foyer lead to dead ends. Without a word, he handed it to Kay.

“Wow, this is brilliant!” Kay said, looking through the glass. “Right, let’s grab a bit each, we can get to Gummy in no time with these!”

“See, Badgers are useful,” the Blue Badger said proudly.

They resumed their journey, with the improved visibility making detection of wrong routes and dead ends a lot easier. Edgeworth had only managed to find his way around the Thieves Lair through methodical means, chalking areas he went through and always following the left hand side of the wall. If he’d discovered this trick before now, perhaps he would’ve gotten to Kay a lot sooner.  
Most of the Shadows they encountered on the way were weak and posed very little threat to them. In fact, most of the Shadows sensed that they were combat-ready and ran away, their frightened squealing noises fading into the fog. They ignored most of them, for time was of the essence. The Blue Badger revelled in his newfound company, explaining that his attempts to explore these pathways had lead to Shadows chasing him back to the foyer. Little Thief’s beeping became more frequent, as Kay guided them through the TV world, iron walkways turning into stairs and then into pavement.

“I think this is it!” Kay said, pointing at the building at the end of the street they were walking down.

“Hardly a secret lair, is it?” Edgeworth looked up at the battered wooden sign on the ramshackle house as they drew closer. “’Detective Dick’s HQ’.”

“We all know Gummy can’t keep a secret,” Kay grinned.

“I was expecting him to have schemed up something a little more upmarket,” Edgeworth surveyed the peeling paintwork and the broken windows. “I suppose to him anywhere is a home.”

The door to the house had fallen off its hinges, revealing a red, swirling mass of nothingness beyond.

“Are you coming in with us?” Kay asked the Badger.

“There are a lot of strong shadows in there,” the Badger said nervously. “I can feel them. But there aren’t any out the front here, I think the Shadows out in the street are scared of coming near this place, so I think I’ll be safe if I wait here. But I can still help you, if you each give me something that belongs to you!”

Kay immediately unpinned her Yatagarasu badge.

“Here you go, keep that safe!” she said, pressing it into the Badger’s hand.

Edgeworth wasn’t sure what to give to the Badger. After a few moments thought, he dug in his pocket and handed over his Prosecutor’s Badge.

“Don’t you dare lose that,” he warned the Badger. 

“What would happen if I did?” the Badger asked, a little cheekily.

“Terrible things,” Edgeworth said darkly, causing the Badger to tremble in his furry boots.

“Okay, okay, I won’t, I promise!” the Badger closed his hands tightly over each badge. “Now I have something of yours, I’ll always be able to sense where you are in the house, and where the Shadows are too!”

“But how are you going to tell us about the Shadows if you’re not there?” Edgeworth pointed out. “There’s a flaw in your plan.”

“I know!” Kay dug in her bag. “Here, take this!” she handed the Blue Badger a walkie talkie.

“Why on earth do you have that?” Edgeworth asked incredulously.

“Walkie talkies are useful for all kinds of things!” Kay said cheerfully. “Whenever you need a disembodied voice as a distraction, a pair of walkie talkies and a voice recorder are all you need!”

“Surely you don’t require a disembodied voice that often in your daily activities.”

“Well, no, but if I told you about the other things I do with them you’d just do your usual ‘Lalala don’t tell me anything I’m not listening’.”

“I do not say ‘Lalala’,” Edgeworth humphed.

“You should try singing sometime, Mr. Edgeworth – it might make you more cheerful!” Kay winked, then she held up her walkie talkie. “Okay, the Blue Badger can stay in touch with us now, so let’s go!”

“Don’t die in there!” the Blue Badger called after them as they disappeared into the building.

“Stay behind me,” Edgeworth said to Kay as they started down the first dilapidated corridor. “There may be Shadows here that we haven’t encountered before.”

“Haha, you sound like some kind of superhero when you say that,” Kay laughed. “Stay behind me,” she said in a gruff voice, “I got this.”

“That sounded nothing like me.”

“Ach, you get the gist!” Kay waved it off.

The walkie-talkie she held crackled into life. 

“There’s a Shadow about thirty steps ahead of you,” the Blue Badger warned. “It’s a big one, might be three or four of them lumped together!”

“Ready?” Edgeworth nodded to Kay.

“Let’s do this,” Kay pointed down the corridor.

The Shadow was enormous, crawling sluggishly across the floor. Shadows were deaf, and luckily this one had its back turned to the pair. Edgeworth took his bundle of Persona cards from his pocket and threw them into the air, pointing at the one he wanted.

“Go, King Frost!” he shouted.

The little King materialised in mid-air with a grin on his face, pointing his sceptre to fling an ice attack at the Shadow, which howled and split into four smaller Shadows. 

“Nice hit!” the Blue Badger said over the walkie talkie. “Up and at ‘em!”

Their smaller size made the Shadows faster and one of them scuttled towards Kay to hit her, but she jumped out of the way.

“Get it, Sekhmet,” she cried, and a large claw materialised out of nowhere to shred the thing. It reeled at the attack, dashing back to its companions.

Seeing that Sekhmet had weakened it, Edgeworth pointed at another of his Persona cards, that were now hovering by his head.

“Berith!”

Berith galloped through the middle of the Shadows, scattering them, and threw a firebolt at the weakened Shadow. It dissolved into nothingness.

A light breeze ruffled his hair, that was the only warning he got before a huge gust of wind slammed into him, knocking all the breath out of him and sending him tumbling backwards onto the floor. He couldn’t even speak, never mind get up. Another Shadow scuttled in to try and hit him, but Sekhmet jumped on it and pinned it down, ripping it apart. Edgeworth gasped for breath, jerking his rapier out of its leather scabbard. The Shadow was scrabbling at Sekhmet even as it was being torn to pieces, and Edgeworth reached out, stabbing it with his rapier from where he was lying. It disappeared.

“Two down, two to get!” the Badger encouraged them over the walkie talkie.

“C’mon, up you get!” Kay ran over to Edgeworth and pulled him up, only to get knocked flying by another gust of wind. But she was nimble and managed to stay on her feet, her scarf whipping around up into her face.

Edgeworth hurriedly picked another card – the gust of wind had knocked him flying because he’d been using Berith at the time, who was rather affected by wind-based attacks. King Frost’s ice had been enough to split the Shadows up but not to knock any of them down, and although Berith’s fire attack had killed one of the Shadows, it had not collapsed in the way it would have done if he’d hit a weak point. If they were using wind, they’d be sure to be immune to it, so he took a guess at what attack to use next.

“Shiisa, zap them!” he called breathlessly to the lion guardian that appeared above him.

Lightning struck the two remaining Shadows, and they slumped, twitching.

“Yes!” Kay cried, swinging her nunchuck. “You got ‘em, so let’s get ‘em!”

“Right!” they ran in, weapons drawn.

“Yahooo!” the Blue Badger cried over the walkie talkie, as the two Shadows dissolved under the onslaught. “Great job, everyone!”

Edgeworth’s persona cards returned to him, and other cards materialised in mid air, flying around him. Some of them he’d seen before, and some of them were new. He went for the more grotesque of the new cards, plucking it out of the air. He got a sense of it as he held the card. It was called Legion, a horrible visage of angry faces combined into a fleshy sphere. It relied on confusion, poisoning and other underhanded tactics as its method of fighting. He pocketed the card, thinking it might come in handy within this house.

“So those ones use wind and are weak to electricity,” Kay said, catching her breath. “At least we’ll know them if we see them again.”

Edgeworth’s stomach was sore, from where he’d had the breath knocked out of him. But he’d been through worse – it wasn’t like the time he’d been rolling around on the floor inside the Thieves Lair clutching his burned face for twenty minutes. It had faded to a sunburn by the next morning but he’d had a hard time explaining why he was sporting one in the middle of November.

“It makes me sad, y’know,” Kay said, pushing open the door next to them and peering into a room that contained a battered, patched-up armchair and pictures that were half-falling off the walls. It was otherwise empty. “Gummy’s great and he deserves nice things. So why is this place so broken and tired when he could’ve had anything he wanted here in the TV world? I know you said anywhere is home for him, but does he not think he deserves anything nice?”

“I buy him a meal when he’s done well,” Edgeworth said defensively, feeling uncomfortable.

“No, I’m not getting at you,” Kay said, walking into the room and running a hand over a rupture in the armchair where the stuffing was coming out. “It was more of a general question. I thought he was pretty happy with where he was in life, even if it wasn’t anywhere great and world-changing, and all that stuff. But I guess maybe he is keeping some secrets after all. And you didn’t know about them either, right?” she gave him one of those looks, piercing and shrewd, reminding him once again that despite being 17, she had a sharpness and intelligence far beyond her age.

“No. I didn’t.” He answered honestly, because that was all he could do in the face of that.

“Well, maybe we’ll find out more as we go through the house,” Kay walked out of the room.

“Yes, let’s move on.” Edgeworth knew it was a bad idea to stay too long in any one place, with Shadows on the move.

They had to get rid of a few more groups of Shadows on that floor, but they found the stairs in short order and climbed up to the next floor, having to take the stairs two at a time to avoid the ones with broken boards.

“There’s a Shadow in the room to your right,” the Blue Badger said. “It’s just wandering around in circles in one spot, it’s a bit weird.”

“Hmm,” Edgeworth popped his head around the door, surveying the room. 

“Watch out!” cried the Blue Badger.

“Ah-!” Edgeworth stepped back rapidly, drawing his rapier. “Kay!” the Shadow was upon him before he even had a chance to draw his cards – a huge lion with a ball and chain attached to its leg that did not impede its movement in any way, shape or form. His rapier stabbed through its leg but that did nothing to stop the frenzy of scratches, and he yelled out in pain.

“Sekhmet!”

Edgeworth was knocked back, blood welling up in the slash marks across his face, as Sekhmet jumped on the lion, snarling. Hisses and wails ensued as they tumbled across the room. Sekhmet reared up, her claws extending as she slammed her paws down on the lion’s back. The lion screeched and disappeared.

“Looks like that one was fairly well disposed of just with physical attacks,” Edgeworth said weakly, plucking a Shuffle card from the ones that appeared. Blood was starting to trickle down his cheeks, and oh, did those scratches hurt.

“She did good,” Kay said, flushed with pride. She patted Sekhmet when the cat padded back towards them. She was a little scratched but didn’t seem to care. Sekhmet butted her with her head, then walked over to Edgeworth, looking up at his bleeding face.

“Well done,” he said to her. 

She reared up, planting her paws on his shoulders.

“Er,” Edgeworth just had time to get that out before she licked his face. “Ow!”

“Sekhmet!” Kay scolded her. “You can’t just go licking people like- hey!“ Sekhmet butted her head against Kay’s stomach, sending the thief back a few paces. The cat turned, facing Edgeworth again, and that was when Kay realised.

“Whoa,” she said. “Your scratches have all healed up.”

The stinging sensation from them had subsided, and Edgeworth put his hand to the cuts. His hand encountered smooth skin, albeit sticky from the blood. He stared at Sekhmet, who was purring contentedly and already starting to fade from view, now she was no longer required.

“I didn’t even know she could do that,” Kay was amazed. “Damn, don’t I just have the best Persona!” she grinned.

“That’s good to know,” Edgeworth gave her a rare smile – it was great to see her Persona developing, just as his did. “Um. Thankyou, Kay.”

He had one persona who could heal a little, but as Kay only had light attacks at her disposal, it fell to him to use his energy reserves for summoning personas able to perform elemental attacks. He didn’t really have much to spare for his cuts and scratches.

“Have a look inside,” he nodded at the room the Shadow had burst out of. “I think there might be something good.”

“Oh wow, a goody box!” Kay ran in and opened it. “Hey, look at all this stuff!”

Edgeworth surveyed the things she was getting from the box. There was a vest there that looked like it might be good for him to wear instead of his fencing vest. The other things that were there were a beaded necklace, a strange hand-made dolly, and a packet of chewing gum.

“Ooh, that is _weird_ ,” Kay held out the necklace. “It’s warm and it kinda vibrates a little, it feels like it’s alive. Touch it!”

 

“Yes, I absolutely want to touch it after you giving me that description. Keep it.” Edgeworth picked up the vest, taking his fencing vest off in order to try it on. It was a good fit.

“That’s too big for me, so I guess it’s yours,” Kay said. “Can I have some gum?” she picked up the packet of chewing gum. “’Soul’,” she read the packet. “’Feeling a little tired and lacking in spirit? Chew a Soul and you’ll feel better in no time!’”

“Well, that’s fairly self-explanatory at least. Save it for when you’ve summoned your Persona a lot.” Edgeworth picked up the dolly. “What this does, however, I have no idea. I’ll need to ask... somebody,” he remembered it was part of his contract to not talk about the Velvet Room to anybody else.

They pocketed the items between them and carried on. The Shadows they were dealing with were strong, and would knock them about, but they were managing for the most part, with the Blue Badger shouting warnings and encouragement from the walkie talkie. However, as they climbed to the third floor, Kay stumbled and fell over the top step. Edgeworth caught her by the back of her shirt before she could faceplant on the floor.

“Alright?” he asked, helping her up.

In the light of the stairwell, he realised she was incredibly pale, almost grey.

“Dammit, Kay, you’re white as anything. Sit down for a minute,” he was accidentally brusque to hide his shock. “Er, I mean, you should have a rest.”

“I think... maybe I’ve been overdoing it,” she confessed, sitting on the top step. “Sekhmet’s attacks, I can kinda feel them draining me away, if you know what I mean.”

Edgeworth mentally kicked himself for not thinking of this before. He hadn’t really used the more physically-orientated Personas, having gone down the elemental route and become reliant on his rapier for awkward Shadows that just wouldn’t die. Whenever he used a Persona’s elemental attack, it took up a little of his spirit, making him tired. If that sort of attack had a cost, there was no reason why a bite or a slash from Sekhmet wouldn’t have a similar impact on her summoner.

 _You’re really not very good at looking after your team mates, are you?_ he thought harshly. _Fool._

“I’m sorry, Mr. Edgeworth,” Kay said, resting her arms on her knees and looking into the inky blackness of the stairwell. “I thought I’d be able to keep up, and I’ve let you down.” Her voice wobbled a little. “And Gummy too.”

“You haven’t let me down at all,” Edgeworth said, a little awkward with the realisation that she was, uncharacteristically, about to burst into tears. Was it her exhaustion? “You’ve been doing really well, and you know I wouldn’t just say that. We’ve got at least two weeks to get the Detective out of here. The Shadows won’t harm him while all this fog is around. We need to make sure we pace ourselves.” Upon saying that, he realised he was pretty tired as well. “Perhaps we should call it a night here.”

“No!” Kay said, trying to stand up. Edgeworth caught her hand, without even thinking, and she swayed, collapsing back down again. “No,” it came out as a sob. “Why can’t I do this?”

“...You can,” Edgeworth said quietly. “But not when you’re this tired.”

“I’m sorry!” she wailed. “I’m really really sorry...”

“Shush,” something was pressed into her hand. “No more apologies, they’re completely unnecessary. Wipe your eyes now.”

Kay looked down. She was holding Edgeworth’s cravat. She looked across at him, tears rolling down her face.

“Just like old times, huh?” she said, wiping her face with it.

“Well, you still never carry a handkerchief.”

“That’s ‘cause the last time I needed one was the last time you gave me this,” Kay spread out the tearstained cloth over her hands. That was when Edgeworth realised she had cuts all up her arms. They were all of the same length and evenly spaced. One of them was fresh, blood shining in the cut. “I didn’t realise I was so tired. The adrenaline just kinda keeps you going, doesn’t it?”

“What are those cuts on your arms?” Edgeworth asked hesitantly.

Kay lifted one arm, turning it to look at the cuts. “They just appear,” she said. “Every time Sekhmet hits or claws something. They don’t hurt very much, it’s like getting a papercut. Look, those ones are healing already,” she pointed at the welts lower down on her arm, that had faded to thin red lines. “I noticed them when we went into my Lair, but I wasn’t calling Sekhmet as much there because the Shadows weren’t that strong.”

 _So that is the cost of summoning a physical attack,_ Edgeworth surmised.

“We are going to have to go home, aren’t we?” Kay said miserably.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. It took me a week to get to you inside the Thieves Lair, you know.” Edgeworth delved into the satchel he carried, pulling out the rope he’d bought from a potty little shop in the backstreets of LA’s city centre, that Igor had given him the address of. “Grab hold.”

They both took hold of the rope, and Edgeworth threw the free end of it up into the air. Within a moment, they were back outside the front of the house.

“You guys were great!” the Blue Badger was a little starry-eyed. “You gave those Shadows a good kicking!” he stopped, realising that Edgeworth was supporting Kay, who could barely walk. “Whoa, you guys should take it easy, that’s not good.”

“We’re going home,” Edgeworth said. Then he suddenly remembered the broken TV in the foyer.

_Ah, damn it._

“Badger,” he asked, “are there any other TVs around? Seeing as we broke pretty much every one in the foyer”

Wordlessly, the Blue Badger pointed across the road. There was a television shop but a few doors down. He left Kay sitting on the steps outside the house, and walked to stand outside the shop. It was closed.

_Now what?_

He had a little debate with his moral scruples, then realised it was a little pointless for the store to even exist in this world, really. The whole street was probably Gumshoe’s invention – it might even be his own street back in LA, for Edgeworth had never been to the Detective’s apartments. Having quietened his conscience, he found a big rock and smashed the window. An alarm went off for a few seconds, and then cut off. He waited apprehensively for a few moments, but no justice came raining down on him from anywhere.

“Did you just do what I think you just did?” Kay asked in disbelief when he returned, carrying a TV.

“I entirely blame your corruptive influence,” Edgeworth said nonchalantly.

“Hey, I don’t steal TVs!”

“This isn’t stealing, this is replacement on a new for old scheme.”

“Damn, I need to remember that line, that sounds good.”

They returned to the foyer, Kay leaning on his shoulder for support as they walked.

“So... you’re leaving, then?” the Blue Badger said mournfully.

“We’ll be back,” Kay reassured it. “Thanks for all your help, you were great!”

“I... I was?” the Blue Badger asked hopefully.

“Your help was invaluable,” Edgeworth bowed to it gracefully. The Blue Badger nearly swooned.

“I was helpful!” it said gleefully. “Oh, I’m so happy to be useful, I didn’t know what my purpose was in life but now I’ve found it!”

“Well, that’s nice for you,” Edgeworth didn’t really know what to say in response to such gushing. “Look after this place while we’re not here. Oh, and give us our badges back.” He needed his, and he was pretty sure Kay wouldn’t want to be without hers.

Having been reunited with their badges, they climbed through the TV. Edgeworth had been a bit concerned about where they would end up, so it was to his relief that he emerged to see the familiar walls and paintings of his lounge. He reached back in to pull Kay through, pointing at the sofa. She floated towards it and climbed onto it. She was asleep before he’d even reached for the blanket to put over her. He went to the study and scribbled some stuff in his compendium. One thing he circled, in the top left corner of the notebook.

_Who/what is the Blue Badger?_

***

“This is a homunculus,” Margaret pointed at the dolly. “It will sacrifice itself where you or another in your team would otherwise die to an attack from light or darkness, the odds of which vary from twenty-five to eighty percent according to the strength of your enemy.”

Edgeworth looked at the dolly, processing this. The nature of light and dark attacks was listed in Margaret’s Compendium, but he hadn’t quite realised the percentages attached to them were as high as that.

“That’s a really good thing to have, then,” he said, stomach knotting a little at the realisation that he had faced a few Shadows using light and dark attacks, in ignorance of the fact that his life hung on a 1:4 odds ratio. He had been lucky.

“May the odds be favourable for you that you will hold onto it as long as you can,” Margaret said. “And the beads on this,” she lifted up the necklace, “are seeds of life. If any of your group are close to death, one of these beads will restore their vitality, but not their spirit.”

Edgeworth thought of Kay’s grey, tired face last night. She had still been sleeping when he left that morning. If he had known what the necklace was capable of, he could have helped her more. But he couldn’t change that now, and counting the beads on the necklace he realised that there were only five. They would have to be used sparingly.

“You are stronger now,” Igor said. “You can exert your will upon more powerful personas, making fusions possible that would not have been possible before. Is there anything you would like to fuse today?”

“Let’s see what we can get,” Edgeworth picked up the dolly and the necklace, putting them in his pocket.

***

He returned from the Velvet room an hour or two later (he lost all sense of time in there, and yet time didn’t seem to pass at all when he returned to the real world), and found Kay awake and eating some lunch. The cuts on her arm were barely visible now, but she still looked tired.

“We need to go back into the TV tonight,” she said.

“You’re still not fully recovered, so no.”

“But it’s important!”

“So is being alive. You’re no good to me in fights if you’re too tired to dodge anything.”

Kay glared at him, but he knew he was right, so he wouldn’t budge. His mobile rang in his pocket and he tugged it out, answering it.

“Hi, Mr. Edgeworth, it’s Inspector Joseph from the precinct.”

“What can I do for you, Inspector?” he replied.

“Detective Gumshoe hasn’t reported for work today – is he on a case with you or something?”

“Yes, yes he is,” Edgeworth said. “I’ve sent him away somewhere so he might not be back for a little while. I’m sure you don’t object to me taking him off your hands for a period.”

“I don’t, no, but I do like to know where my men are,” the Inspector said. “Where have you sent him?”

“...I can’t tell you that, Inspector, it’s classified information.” Edgeworth paused. “But he is doing something that he’s always wanted to do, so I wouldn’t worry about him too much.”

“Very well, Mr. Edgeworth. I trust you’ll be looking after him, and I hope he’s studying hard.”

“...Studying?”

“Ah!” the Inspector caught himself. “I mean to say, I hope he’s working hard.”

“That wasn’t an accidental word substitution, Inspector.”

“Er,” the Inspector prevaricated. “He’ll tell you himself when he’s ready, I’m sure. I must go – goodbye, Mr. Edgeworth.”

Edgeworth put his mobile back in his pocket, mind working furiously.

“What was that all about?” Kay asked.

“...Well, I’ll be damned,” Edgeworth said, working it out.

_How long has he been keeping that under wraps? And why wouldn’t he tell me?_

He received a poke in the side, Kay regarding him indignantly.

“You’re doing that thing where you space out, figure something out and then don’t bother telling me,” she grumbled. “C’mon, what is it?”

“The Detective... he’s entered this month’s round of promotional exams. For Sergeant.”  
It took Kay a few moments to take that in.

“Wow,” she said slowly. “We’re finding out a lot of things about the Detective, aren’t we?”

There wasn’t much Edgeworth could say in response to that. He was still a bit bewildered by this discovery.

“I wish we could go into the TV world today,” Kay said mournfully. “I’m sorry I’m tired still, I thought I’d be better after a good sleep.”

“I told you apologies weren’t necessary. It takes more than a good sleep to fix up you giving your Persona most of your life force.”

“Is there nothing else we could do today that would help?” Kay asked.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Edgeworth said. “The rain’s clearing up this afternoon and it will be clear.”

“That’s not really useful.”

“Think of it as part of your recuperation.” Edgeworth actually had another reason to go for a walk today.

They went to the park, and Edgeworth took a route he was now becoming very familiar with. It took them past the glasshouses in the park.

“Ahoy, Mr. Edgeworth,” the old gardener nodded to him. “Plants have had a good watering today with the rain, but it’s nice to see the sun out.”

“It certainly is, Mr. O’Donnell,” Edgeworth agreed.

“Are you here to see how the tree’s doing, Mr. Edgeworth?” the gardener smiled.

“I’m sure it’s flourishing under your care,” Edgeworth said. “But yes, I would like to see it.”

Kay followed him, curious. Mr. O’Donnell took them around the back of the glasshouses, gesturing to a large pot that stood in the middle of the paving stones.

“I had to repot it just yesterday,” the gardener said. “It’s growing well!” he sounded very pleased with himself.

The tree was the most peculiar colour, its leaves a dark purple with black veins running through them. The bark on the trunk was smooth but had an odd iridescence to it. Kay’s eyes widened at the sight of it. It definitely did not belong in the real world, yet here it was.

“You know, Mr. Edgeworth,” Mr. O’Donnell said, “it’s been years since I had a good gardening project like this to get my teeth into. I don’t think I’ve nurtured a tree from seed since my wife was still on this earth. It gets me up in the mornings, you know, to come and look after it.”

“That’s good to hear, Mr. O’Donnell,” Edgeworth ran his hand down the trunk, feeling the odd vibration within it that was similar to that of the bead necklace still in his pocket. “I don’t think I could have found anyone more dedicated to grow this for me.”

The gardener gave him a gruff acknowledgement, then they went back around to the front of the glasshouses. Edgeworth bid him farewell, and they went on their way. Edgeworth was fairly happy with how that had worked out. When Margaret had told him that he needed to work on his social interactions and seek out people who might need his help, he had been a little dismayed. Socialising was really not something that came easily to him, he always felt the kind of small talk he was forced to engage in at the precinct parties was silly and a waste of time. He had sought out Mr. O’Donnell because he had no idea how to grow a tree from seed, and was surprised to find that fusing any Hierophant arcane personas in the Velvet Room evoked a strong reminder of him. So he had endeavoured to visit the old gardener on occasion. He found that actually, he didn’t mind it so much.

“What the heck is that tree?” Kay asked, interrupting his thoughts. “And you’re spacing out again.”

“It’s a Macca tree,” Edgeworth said. “I found a seed for it in your Lair. Mr. O’Donnell’s been growing it for me. It feels like the bead necklace we found last night, so I think the leaves from it will do us good.” Actually it was Margaret who had told him all this, but he couldn’t tell Kay that.

They walked around the park, and Edgeworth realised that a bit of fresh air was what he had needed to rejuvenate him a little. The air was motionless in the TV world, almost dead, and the fog muffled pretty much all noise in there. That was why the Shadows were deaf, he suspected – there was rarely anything for them to hear.

When they got back, Kay had another nap. Edgeworth went into his study to catch up on some paperwork, but awoke a few hours later with his face resting on some files. The unexpected nap had left him feeling a little better, so he went through into the lounge. Kay was awake and watching the news.

“Haha, you fell asleep too?” she grinned at him.

“How did you know?”

“You’ve got ink on your face where you faceplanted on some papers.”

“Huh.” Edgeworth went to wash his face. When he returned, the newscaster had moved onto the minor news items.

“And last night a television store on West Street in the Baldwin Hills area had its front window broken. Police are looking for witnesses and are questioning as to why the culprit only stole a single thirty-seven inch television despite having access to an array of the latest in TV technology through the window display.”

There was a silence as the two of them realised the significance of this. Kay burst out laughing. Edgeworth choked on his tea. 

“NGOOOH!”

***

“You picked a pretty good telly to pinch,” Kay said, looking at it after they had climbed through it.

“Shut up. Just... shut up.” Edgeworth folded his arms, refusing to look at her. “I didn’t know that was going to affect something in the real world, alright? And we needed a TV to get out of here, otherwise we would’ve been stuck. So it doesn’t count.”

“Hey, you came back!” the Blue Badger ran over. “Look, I made these!” It handed them each a pair of spectacles. “I used glass from the broken TVs, so you should be able to see where you’re going!”

“Where did you get the spectacle frames?” Kay asked, trying hers on. They were a jazzy purple.

“Oh, there’s loads of junk lying around here,” the Badger waved vaguely at the foyer. “I dunno where it’s come from, it’s just kinda here.”

Edgeworth’s were a set of black half-rims. He tried them on, although he had no mirror to see what he looked like.

“Wow, Mr. Edgeworth, you look pretty senior!” Kay exclaimed.

“Well, that’s not so bad, I suppose,” Edgeworth said, adjusting them a little.

“Well, I do have these too,” the Badger held up a pair of glasses that had a big nose and a fake moustache attached.

“Like hell I’m wearing those!” Edgeworth burst out indignantly, causing Kay and the Badger to laugh. “Where are yours, anyway?” he asked the Blue Badger.

The Blue Badger covered its eyes, then uncovered them in a peek-a-boo motion.

“Right here!” it said. “I put the lenses in my outfit.”

“...You can take that off?” Edgeworth regarded the Badger curiously.

“I’m not undressing in front of you!” the Blue Badger sounded horrified. “That’d just be indecent, what kind of person are you?!”

“W-wait, I didn’t mean it like that!” Edgeworth got flustered. “I’m not that kind of person!”

“Hey, you’re avoiding the question,” Kay said to the Badger.

“Well, I suppose I could take it off for you, Kay,” the Badger purred. “Ow!” Kay smacked him upside the head.

“Don’t you ever come out with a line like that to me again,” Kay said severely. “It’s creepy as hell, coming from you, especially as you don’t even know what the Blue Badger actually is.”

“But I am the Blue Badger!” it said, rubbing its head and looking a little hurt.

“You are, but at the same time you’re not, but at the same time you’re... ah, this is complicated,” Kay sighed. “C’mon, let’s just go to Gummy’s HQ, we have work to do!” After a day of enforced rest, she was raring to go.

They headed over. The window to the television shop was boarded up.

“...Do you think they can see us in the real world?” Edgeworth looked around him for any signs of CCTV cameras.

“I don’t reckon so,” Kay said, looking at the shop. “I wonder if maybe this is a parallel dimension or something, and things that happen here sometimes leak over into the real world because of us crossing back and forth like this.”

“Or if the person who’s been thrown inside the TV bases their location on a real place, there’s a little cross-translation,” Edgeworth said thoughtfully.

“Ready?” Kay asked the Blue Badger, who held up its walkie talkie in reply. They had once again given it their badges to hold onto.

The rope Edgeworth had used snaked out of the front door of the HQ. They could use it to get back to the third floor.

“Wait,” Kay said, looking up at the building. “This is only two storeys, so why are we now on the third floor?”

“I think it’s not to scale,” Edgeworth said, grabbing the rope. “Coming?” he asked.

Kay grabbed the rope, and Edgeworth tugged it to whisk them back to the third floor. They barely got a few steps up the corridor when they heard a voice overhead.

“Well hey, pals, welcome to Detective Dick’s HQ! There’s some classified stuff in here that’s off limits, so you should turn around and go back the way you came. I don’t wanna have to arrest you, now!”

“Looks like we’re getting closer,” Edgeworth said.

“Don’t worry, Gummy, we’re coming!” Kay shouted above her.

“That’s not actually him.”

“I dunno, he might hear us,” Kay shrugged.

On the next floor, the voice was a little more severe.

“Now then, pals, I told you this place was out of bounds. I play by the rules, so if you don’t then I’ve got no choice but to arrest you for trespassing.”

They ignored it and carried on. They didn’t have too much trouble until they got to the fifth floor, where a group of Shadows they encountered were a set of cupid-like creatures, that giggled and did back-flips in midair. Edgeworth got a good hit on one with Ares, a powerful knight persona that he’d fused in the Velvet Room the day before, but as it tumbled to the ground and disappeared, another one loosed off an arrow at him, hitting him in the shoulder. He hissed at the pain of it and swiped at the cupid with his rapier, but his arm hurt to swing it and it barely glanced a blow on the Shadow.

“Mr. Edgeworth!” Kay shouted out.

He turned to look at her, his vision starting to blur. He felt dizzy and not with it, he couldn’t focus on anything. Somebody was running towards him, and he struck out wildly.

“Ah-!” Kay cried out.

“Mr. Edgeworth!” the Blue Badger cried over the walkie talkie. “What are you doing? Snap out of it!”  
He was only dimly aware of what was going on, staggering after the person he’d just hit with his rapier.

“Mr. Edgeworth!” Kay shouted at him. “It’s me, don’t hit me, I’m on your side!”

Dully, he turned, swinging towards another shape that flew across his vision. One of the cupids screamed as he impaled it, and it disappeared.

“Sekhmet, get that last one, get it!”

There was a growl, and a squeal from the final cupid. Edgeworth stumbled towards the sound of the voice he’d heard, but Kay darted out of the way.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Edgeworth, but this is for your own good!” Kay delivered him a swift kick to the shins and followed it up with a slap across the face.

The pain pierced through him with alarming alacrity, his eyes widened and he let out a strangled noise, his vision clearing instantly. He’d missed the shuffle sequence, the cards disappeared just as he gained his vision back.

“That... was a little painful,” he croaked.

“So was what you did to me,” Kay said darkly. Sekhmet was sitting beside her, and Kay winced as the cat licked the slash wound on her side.

“Guys, guys, are you okay?” the Blue Badger asked anxiously. “Those things are pretty dangerous!”

“We’re fine,” Kay said into the walkie talkie. “Luckily,” she shot Edgeworth a look.

Edgeworth looked down at his rapier. It had blood on it, and Shadows didn’t bleed. He dropped it in horror, and it clanged to the ground.

“I... I hit you,” he said.

“No shit.” Kay wouldn’t look at him.

“I’m...” he couldn’t believe what he had done. “I’m so sorry.”

“So you should be. Any deeper and you would’ve had my kidneys.” She rubbed Sekhmet’s head. The big cat was still licking her wound, which was starting to close up. “I don’t think she would be able to fix that.”

Edgeworth was downcast. His arm ached where the arrow had pierced it, although the arrow itself had dissolved along with the last cupid.

“I don’t know what kind of power those Shadows had to make me behave like that,” he said softly. “But if I was in full possession of my faculties I would never, ever strike a lady.”

Kay sighed. Under Sekhmet’s ministrations, the pain was starting to subside, along with her anger.

“I know,” she said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m glad you know that. But I’m still sorry.” Edgeworth picked up the rapier, wiping it clean. “Even if I wasn’t in control of myself, I should still accept responsibility for my actions.”

“You’re pretty rubbish with that rapier, you know. If I’d been expecting it, you wouldn’t have hit me at all.”

“I know. Little touches the Master Thief,” he said.

“Hah, now you wheel out the compliments,” Kay cracked a smile. “Alright, let’s get going.” She held up Little Thief, which was beeping regularly now. “We’re close.”

The next time they encountered a set of cupid Shadows, Edgeworth stood right back out of the way. If one avoided their arrows, which Kay could do easily, they were weak and easily dispatched. But he’d learnt his lesson from that, and he had a new appreciation for Kay’s quickness and ability to handle herself when fighting these types of Shadows. Maybe he didn’t need to take point all the time after all – she was learning fast. They sat on the stairs to the fifth floor, having a brief rest. Edgeworth recognised the pallor starting to develop in Kay’s skin, and she had a number of cuts running up her arms from using Sekhmet’s abilities.

“Here, have one of these,” he handed her a leaf from the Macca tree.

“Do I just eat it?” Kay held it up dubiously, then put it in her mouth. “Augh, that’s foul!” she chewed, making a face.

“Ah, less of the complaining – you’ll feel better after eating it.” He was chewing some Soul gum, which at least had a slightly sweet flavour to it.

Kay swallowed the leaf, nearly gagging.

“I am not having another one of those,” she said fervently, then added with surprise, “even if they do work really quickly.”

Edgeworth could see the colour returning to her face. He felt a little better too, having had a little of his spirit restored by the chewing gum.

“Ready to move on?” he asked.

Kay stood up and stretched, then had a look at Little Thief.

“I think Gummy might be on the floor above this one we’re about to get to,” she said, looking up at the stairs.

In fact, the stairs lead up to a landing with a single door in it.

“Wait!” the Blue Badger said. “There’s a powerful Shadow behind that door. Are you sure you want to go in?”

“Well, obviously,” Edgeworth said, touching the door handle. He whipped his hand away – it was hot to the touch and had almost burned him.

“Are you really really sure?” the Blue Badger was nervous. “It’s way more powerful than anything you’ve defeated up until now.”

“Well, we’re not leaving the Detective here,” Edgeworth took a few steps back from the door. “Hyah!” he threw himself against it, splintering the wood.

“Let me help!” Kay said, joining him for the next one. The door buckled.

“Kyaaaagh!” they rushed it again and tumbled into the room as the door broke open.

“Gee, you sure don’t know when to quit, do you?” Gumshoe’s Shadow stood opposite them, flanked by an enormous dog. He tipped his trilby hat down, regarding them passively with yellow eyes.

“Give us Gummy!” Kay shouted at the Shadow. “He doesn’t belong to you!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, pal. He’s me, so we belong to each other.” Gumshoe’s Shadow crouched down, rubbing the dog’s head. It snarled. “Besides, why do you want him, anyway? He just messes up the easiest of jobs. What a waste of your time he is.”

“He should know that’s not true,” Edgeworth said. “I would’ve sacked him years ago if he was genuinely a lost cause. Now get out of the way. You won’t stop us from making progress through here.”

Gumshoe’s Shadow took a step back, releasing the dog. It circled them, saliva dripping from its jaws. “You’ll have to get past my little pal Missile here first,” he said.

“That is the complete opposite of little,” Kay eyed the dog warily, light on her feet. Sekhmet appeared next to her, hissing a warning.

“He just wants to play,” Gumshoe’s Shadow cackled, then he was gone.

Edgeworth wasted no time.

“Protect us, lion guardian,” he murmured, throwing Shiisa’s card up into the air.

The lion roared, endowing the two fighters with his protection.

The hound howled, making the room distort. Darkness swirled around them, wind rushing through the room. Edgeworth felt a cold horror in the pit of his stomach – this was a dark attack he had never seen before. He shut his eyes, praying, for they only had one homunculus for the both of them. The wind died down and he snapped his eyes open. They were both still alive. He felt inside his satchel. The homunculus was still there.

The dog lunged at Kay, but she managed to get out of the way just in time.

“Kay, use a light attack!” Edgeworth called to her as he moved his hand through the Persona cards that hung above him. “Surely one of us will get lucky!” He grabbed the card belonging to Principality. With clever fusion he had managed to counteract her natural weakness to Darkness with skills inherited from the personas she had been fused from, and she gave him a 50% chance of surviving a dark attack that would have otherwise killed him. That chance was better than nothing.

The room brightened as Sekhmet’s eyes glowed. The light filled the room, dazzling them all, but as it faded, Edgeworth was nearly knocked over by the dog. He slashed it across the chest with his rapier as he stumbled out of the way, but it got a bite in on his arm. The Shiisa’s protection coursed through him, and the dog’s jaws failed to break his skin. He shoved his arm right against the dog’s mouth, as he’d been taught to do in defence training years ago, forcing it to release its bite.

“Take that!” Kay brought the nunchucks down on its head, knocking it away from him, but the dog had a thick skull and it jumped away, letting out a howl that brought the darkness down on them once more. Thankfully, it missed once again.

“This isn’t looking good, someone call the pound!” the Blue Badger exclaimed over the walkie talkie.

“Now is not the time for humour, damn it!” Edgeworth snapped as the room lit up with another attack from Sekhmet. He followed it up with one of his own, but his were not as strong as those of Kay’s Persona, and both of them were just missing the dog every time.

“There’s got to be another way to do this!” Kay said, jumping out of the way of the dog again.  
Edgeworth tried every other elemental attack he had access to, but the dog wasn’t weak to any of them. They were both starting to flag, their spirits drained. The dog was lunging at them over and over again, allowing them no recovery time at all.

“Kay, I think we’re going to have to make a run for it,” Edgeworth shielded his eyes and flung another light attack at the dog, that missed.

The dog circled around them and stood in front of the door, making it clear that they weren’t going anywhere. It howled, and Edgeworth felt a sickening lurch in his stomach as the room twisted. He felt his bag wriggling against his hip, then the top of his satchel flew open and the homunculus was suspended in mid-air, writhing. Kay was slumped in the middle of the floor, wreaths of dark mist crawling over her.

“Kay!” Edgeworth cried out, but the mist was overcoming him as well.

_No, I can’t die here!_

The homunculus slowly dissolved, and Principality appeared above him like an angel, wings spread wide.

“You will endure,” she said softly, and began to glow.

The darkness was banished from the room, chased away by the light. It dazzled him and Kay, they shut their eyes against it, and the dog howled again, this time in anguish. The light faded, and he opened his eyes. The dog was gone. He and Kay were both kneeling in the middle of the empty room. Edgeworth found his legs couldn’t hold him anymore. Taken by surprise, he slumped sideways onto the floor.

“Mr. Edgeworth!” Kay shuffled over to him.

“I’m... so tired,” he said, closing his eyes.

“No, don’t you dare die on me, not after that,” Kay tore at the necklace she wore, pulling a bead from it. “Eat!” she forced the bead into his mouth.

It was an effort to chew, but somehow, he did. He swallowed painfully, his throat was dry. The terrible lethargy began to leave him.

“There, see, you’re looking better already,” Kay helped him sit up.

“You’re alive!” the Blue Badger said with relief. “I couldn’t sense you guys for a few moments there, I thought you were both toast!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Edgeworth said dryly.

“Call me anytime!” the Badger was cheery and completely oblivious to the sarcasm.

“There’s only five of those beads, you know,” Edgeworth said to Kay. “Four now.”

“I know. I regret nothing,” she said.

“If that was just his dog,” Edgeworth said slowly, “then what’s it going to be like fighting him?”

“Harder,” Kay said instantly. “But we can do it. We did this, after all.”

“Your optimism is simultaneously cheering and deluded.”

“C’mon, if I wasn’t optimistic I’d be weeping.” Kay looked at the stairs in the corner of the room. Little Thief beeped rapidly in her bag. “Gummy’s up those stairs. Do you want to go?”

Edgeworth got to his feet. It was utterly bizarre how the bead had just banished the drained feeling he’d had just a few moments ago. He glanced over at Kay. She looked okay. He took out the packet of Soul gum, offering her a stick. She took it, knowing she needed it after all those light attacks she had Sekhmet perform.

“I’m kinda gutted your attack got it and mine didn’t,” Kay said, putting the gum into her mouth. “I know it’s chance regardless of how strong it is, but I still think Sekhmet would’ve gotten it the next time. Never mind, eh?” she said, directing that at her Persona. A disembodied purr echoed around the room.

They finished their gum and stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“I must admit,” Edgeworth said, “I’m a little apprehensive.”

“We just need to kick the Shadow’s butt, right?” Kay said, closing her hand into a fist. “Gummy shouldn’t have to go through this!”

“No. But I fear he feels the way he does because of me.” Edgeworth placed one foot on the first step of the stairs, looking up to the top.

“You’re worried his Shadow exists because of you?” Kay asked.

Edgeworth didn’t reply. He couldn’t really put into words the complicated relationship that he had with Gumshoe, one of superiority and yet respect, disappointment and yet expectation, and now, he realised, understanding and yet misunderstanding. They had a partnership that relied on them knowing one another, but the secret Gumshoe had kept turned this upside down, leaving him feeling a little lost.

“Then who else can show him the truth, other than you?” Kay pointed out. “You still believe in him, and that’s what’s important, right?”

“Maybe he doesn’t trust me anymore,” he said quietly.

Kay was momentarily at a loss as to what to say. Edgeworth looked almost resigned to the truth of what he’d just said. She said nothing for a few moments, thinking.

“This world,” she said, “it makes you lose your sense of who you are, and every little doubt and worry you have gets the better of you. And when all your faults and fears are laid there in front of you, it’s hard to come to terms with that. Heck, look at what happened to me – I didn’t want to accept it, and you had to fight my Shadow to show me that it was a part of me. Maybe he doesn’t trust you anymore, but you have to stay true to yourself. Because that’s something he can rely on even when everything else is falling to pieces.”

“I don’t think I can make him accept his Shadow,” Edgeworth said.

“Then we’ll just have to fight.” Kay climbed the first few step, then turned to him. “Gummy’s waiting for us, Mr. Edgeworth. We’re all he’s got.”

Edgeworth slowly took a breath, looking up at her. She tilted her head expectantly. Then he was beside her on the stairs.

"Let's go," he said.

At the top of the stairs was the most ramshackle corridor they had seen in this hovel of a house. There was water dripping from a crack in the ceiling, large droplets thudding onto the stained and cracked floorboards. A few tatters of wallpaper and a broken light fitting were all that remained of the original decorations. Chunks of plaster had been taken out of the walls and a thin layer of plaster dust coated the floor. A single set of footprints could be seen in the dust, leading towards the open door that creaked and swung at an angle from just one hinge. A ragged piece of cardboard, messily labelled ‘Detective Dick’s Control Room’ in marker pen, was pinned to the door.

“Are you sure you guys want to do this right now?” the Blue Badger said over the walkie-talkie. Its voice quavered a little. “You did nearly just die, you know. And if you actually die, then I’ll be stuck here forever.”

“Well, we’re all still alive, and Gummy won’t be if we leave him here!” Kay said staunchly.

Edgeworth looked at the broken door. The loss of the homunculus had left him a little shaken, and if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do this right now. His stomach knotted at the thought of walking through that door. But he knew it was not because of the fight to come.

“We’re going in,” he said, taking the lead. _And whatever we find out, I’ll just have to deal with._

“Gummy!” Kay exclaimed as they entered the room.

Gumshoe was stood next to the bank of CCTV screens that lined the far wall. Most of the screens were broken, unlike in the view of the room they had when watching the midnight channel. He turned at the sound of Kay’s voice.

“Kay!” he exclaimed, then saw Edgeworth. “Wow, you’re here too, Boss. So what I saw on the cameras wasn’t just a dream! But...” he looked at them, a little confused. “...what are you guys doing in here?”

Edgeworth didn’t have an answer for him, because he had just caught sight of the blood dripping from the Detective’s hands.

“We’ve come to rescue-“ Kay said, but was cut off by Edgeworth.

“Why do you have blood on your hands, Detective?” he asked.

“Huh?” Gumshoe looked down at his hands. “Oh!” he smiled at his superior. “I have an explanation for that!” he sounded very pleased with himself.

Edgeworth folded his arms. “Let’s hear it, then.”

“I was breaking all those,” Gumshoe nodded towards the CCTV screens.

“Because he’s stupid and thinks that would somehow make a difference to his situation,” a voice cut in.

The three of them turned to see Gumshoe’s Shadow. Even without the huge dog they had defeated earlier, he was an imposing presence, in complete contrast to the Detective who now stood with them. His very existence was a contradiction, one that made Edgeworth instinctively tense every muscle in his body.

“It did!” Gumshoe protested. “You couldn’t track them with your cameras anymore, so hah!” he was triumphant.

“Oh no,” Kay groaned. “They’re at odds with each other already.”

“Not being able to see them doesn’t matter,” Gumshoe’s Shadow said smugly. “I can still sense them. But that’s immaterial anyway. You have something to say to your Boss, don’t you?”

Gumshoe eyed his Shadow warily.

“They’ve come all the way here to ‘save you’,” Gumshoe’s Shadow continued. “So tell them the truth!”

“I...” Gumshoe trailed off, looking at Edgeworth. As always, his facial expressions were easy to read, but here they flicked across his face like pages, one after another, something Edgeworth had never seen before. Determination, fear, sadness, conflict, they continued one after another as the silence stretched. Gumshoe was fighting with himself, and this was the fight Edgeworth had dreaded intervening in. He heard Kay take a step back behind him, there was nothing she could say here; this was down to him.

“You don’t have to say anything, Detective,” Edgeworth said. “Because I already know.” His voice cut the silence, sounding strange to his ears because it contained confidence he certainly didn’t have.

“No,” Gumshoe said, looking down. “I don’t want you to already know. I know you do, because it’s you, Boss, but I don’t want you to know because it’s not true.”

The knot in Edgeworth’s stomach became painfully tight. This was it. ‘It’s not true.’ The more Gumshoe said it, the stronger his Shadow would become.

“Look at me,” Edgeworth ordered. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you wouldn’t be proud to get promoted to Sergeant!” He was bluffing on a thin, thin tightrope. It was clear there were other things about the Detective that he didn’t know, but knowledge of the promotional exam was all he had to work with. He just needed to stop Gumshoe from rejecting his Shadow, at any cost.

But Gumshoe wouldn’t look at him.

“I only entered the exam ‘cause there was a spare space needing filled,” he mumbled. “I was the longest serving Detective in the precinct, so it was by default that my name got put down for it.”

“You wanted to enter!” his Shadow shouted. “Tell them, damn you. Tell them the truth! You told me you were going to, so why can’t you when they’re standing right there? You’re afraid of your own boss when he doesn’t even want you around anymore? You coward!”

“Shut it!” Gumshoe rounded on his Shadow. “You don’t know anything about me, you don’t know what I’m really like. I’m happy where I am, I’ve got the best Boss I could ever have. Why the hell would I want more than that when chances are I would mess it up anyway?”

“If you study for that exam, you will pass it,” Edgeworth said. “I believe you will pass it.” He added that for extra conviction, but a small part of him knew there was still the chance that a classic Gumshoe Screwup could ruin the Detective’s chances, regardless of how much study he’d done.

“That’s nice of you to say that, Boss,” Gumshoe said, still facing his Shadow. “But you don’t really believe that. I can hear it in your voice, and that’s because you know me. You know that somehow I’ll manage to screw up.”

Gumshoe’s Shadow threw his hands up in exasperation. “Is it wrong to have a little ambition when you’re being left behind by everybody? You need to change, you need to move on!”

“I can’t change,” Gumshoe was growing frustrated now. “I am the way I am, and who are you to tell me who or what I oughta be? You tell me all this stuff that you think I’m feeling, but it’s not true!”

“Stop saying that, Detective!” Edgeworth exclaimed. “You can’t deny your inner feelings!”

“You can’t, and I can tell you these things because I _am you_.” The sinister black aura surrounding Gumshoe’s Shadow was rippling now, his eyes a deep yellow. “And you know what? You disappoint me. You have ambition, and yet you deny yourself opportunities because you have so little faith in yourself!”

“Damn right I do, because I know I’m a bloody disappointment. If I don’t go for opportunities then I won’t cause disappointment to anyone else! I’m lucky my Boss believes in me no matter how many mistakes I make!”

“But he doesn’t believe in you, why else would he leave you in a cell and go away investigating with a new assistant?” Gumshoe’s Shadow grinned wickedly as threads of his black aura starting to extend out around him like a mist.

Edgeworth looked at the Shadow, aghast. If that was the impression he’d given to Gumshoe with their attempts to keep him from being thrown into the TV...

“Oh, oh man, this is not good,” the Blue Badger’s tinny voice came from the walkie-talkie. “I’m sensing a big power surge and it’s from that Shadow!”

Gumshoe couldn’t come back with anything in response to the damning indictment his Shadow had delivered. He turned to Edgeworth, looking lost. 

“It’s not true...” he said faintly. “It can’t be true...”

“It’s not true,” Edgeworth said desperately. “It was a mistake, Detective – I can explain everything-“ 

“No, Mr. Edgeworth!” Kay exclaimed.

There was a yowl from behind him – Sekhmet. Then Edgeworth realised what he’d said, and he paled in horror. But before he could say another word, Gumshoe smiled with relief.

“Mr. Edgeworth said it’s not true. So it can’t be true.” Gumshoe looked up at his Shadow, who towered above them all now. A strong wind began to blow, whistling through the bared rafters of the control room.

“So you deny me still? We are one and the same, with the same feelings,” his Shadow’s voice boomed around the room, oddly amplified and doubled by the currents.

“Gummy, stop!” Kay yelled, but her voice was whipped away.

“You can bluster and blow all you want, but you stop telling me how I’m feeling, y’hear?” Gumshoe shouted over the wind that crescendoed from whistle to howl. “‘Cause you’re not me!”

“No!” Edgeworth got that one word out before the huge air blast knocked them all off their feet.

The bellow of Gumshoe’s Shadow reverberated around the room, causing CCTV monitors to fall off the wall and shatter to the ground. One narrowly missed Edgeworth’s head, broken glass scattering across his face, but he didn’t have time to think about it, he was back on his feet again, flinging his Persona cards up in the air. Many of them were tossed around by the gale but a few stayed steadfast, the ones that had some wind resistance, and he picked one now – Anzu. Anzu didn’t have much that would be of use but it would at least keep him on his feet until they could figure out a plan of attack. He glanced behind him – Gumshoe was lying motionless and covered with shards of glass, but Kay was getting to her feet, using Sekhmet for support. The cat Persona had dug her enormous claws into the floorboards to keep her upright during the blast, and Kay had thrown her arms around her to stop herself from being blown away. Sekhmet bared her teeth to hiss at the Shadow in front of them, her back arched and fur standing on end.

“Kay, check the Detective,” Edgeworth turned to the Shadow. “I’ll keep this thing busy.”

Gumshoe’s Shadow was grotesque in its final form, much as Kay’s had been. It was a heaving mass of muscle, with rivulets of vomit-coloured ichor dribbling down from the wounds made by the many spears impaling it. All of the spearheads were firmly embedded into the floorboards, indicating it was clearly not going anywhere until they had defeated it.

“If you won’t accept me, I’ll take you all down!” Gumshoe’s Shadow roared, sending another gust of wind towards them.

They were both able to stay upright during this one, and Sekhmet seemed completely unpeturbed by everything being blown around her as she dashed in to jump on the Shadow, sinking her fangs deep into one of its arms. Another arm reached around to grab at her but she kicked it away with her powerful hind legs, springing clear as Edgeworth summoned Kusi Mitama’s power to hit the Shadow with a bolt of electricity.

BANG.

There was a flash of light and then everything went dark, the remaining CCTV monitors making a low whine as they powered down. Sekhmet hissed in the darkness.

“You can try dirty tricks all you want, but I can still sense you!” the voice of Gumshoe’s Shadow was a disembodied cackle.

“Nice idea, Mr. Edgeworth, but now we can’t see anything either!”

“That... did more than I wanted it to, actually,” Edgeworth noted. “-!” Something slammed into him, with a horrible crunch and incredible, tearing pain, throwing him down to the floor and ripping a scream from his lips. 

The next few seconds were a disjointed horror – Kay was there, he could see her face swimming in front of him, illuminated by a soft glow coming from Sekhmet. Her mouth moved but he couldn’t make sense of the words. He saw her eyes close and then the pain overcame him completely, he was screaming and screaming and he could do nothing else but scream until he blacked out.

When he came to, he sat up immediately, a reflex powered by adrenaline. He could see what was happening in front of him – there was light. But the light came from the jagged opening in the ceiling above. He could see Kay, and the Shadow. Relief flooded him at the sight of Kay, she had managed to stay alive while he’d been unconscious. Her back was to him, her eyes on the Shadow, but he could see she was covered in plaster dust, and huge chunks of roofing plaster surrounded the Shadow, showing who was responsible for the hole ripped in the roof. He was in the far corner of the room – Kay had dragged him clear. He clapped a hand to his shoulder, where that horrible pain had been. It was damp, and taking his hand away he could see the red film of blood covering his palm. The floor next to him was covered in blood. How was he still alive?

“Curse you, child, and your nimble feet!” Gumshoe’s Shadow was wild with rage now. It was pinned in place by the spears it was impaled on, and having come to the same conclusion that Edgeworth had about Sekhmet’s wind resistance, was now resorting to pulling ichor-dripping spears out of itself to hurl them at Kay.

She was dodging the majority of them, and the ones she didn’t quite get out of the way for, Sekhmet would knock out of the air. They were an incredible team, and Edgeworth dared not say a word for fear of disrupting their concentration. Instead, he got to his feet and approached them, summoning the lion god Shiisa for the extra protection he clearly needed. Gumshoe’s Shadow flung a spear his way but the lion god appeared in front of him, opening his mouth wide to swallow the spear whole.

“Mr. Edgeworth!” Kay exclaimed, glancing over her shoulder. “Oh, thank goodness!”

Edgeworth started at the sight of her – her face was covered with blood and her fringe was a clotted mess of it, but the grin he was met with confirmed his suspicions that it was his blood rather than her own, which was a relief.

“Stay back though, or you’ll get another spear in you!” Kay dodged another one. “This thing is just full of hot air and I can deal with that, but I can’t heal you again, Sekhmet’s spent!”

A wave of nausea took him with the realisation of what had happened to him. He was glad he had blacked out – he had no issues with seeing corpses with severe injuries but the thought of Kay pulling the spear out of his own shoulder made him want to be sick.

“We have to kill it, though,” he said, backing off to a safe distance. “It’s just going to be a war of attrition otherwise.”

“I know – that’s your job, flinging things at it!”

Edgeworth wasted no time, summoning his strongest Persona, Power. But he found out very quickly that Gumshoe’s Shadow barely flinched at the elemental attacks he threw at it, even the strongest ones in his arsenal. Kay was starting to tire now, and it showed in Sekhmet too – the cat was landing more heavily every time she rose to knock away a spear. Out of desperation, he summoned Rakshasa – a physical attack-based Persona he had never used in battle, despite being quite pleased with the fact that it was resilient against physical attacks from Shadows. He got a sense of Rakshasa as he summoned it – the demon could do more powerful attacks if he let the demon draw upon his spirit. 

“This might actually work!” he exclaimed, closing his eyes and opening his mind to Rakshasa.

As he closed his eyes he heard Kay scream. Fear swept over him, but no, he was connected with the demon now and to break that connection would injure him badly, he had to hold still and let the demon access his inner strength, or he and Kay would both die for sure. It took everything he had to keep him standing there as Kay’s scream choked off, the Shadow’s bellow of triumph drowning out her ragged gasps. His fury at this infused Rakshasa, and the demon cackled gleefully.

“I feel your anger, devil summoner, how much it delights me!” the demon’s thoughts echoed in his head.

 _Rip him apart, Rakshasa,_ Edgeworth’s thoughts were cold steel. _Rip the bastard apart._

“The pleasure is all mine. But first, you pay the cost!” the demon drew its two swords, hovering in the air above him, then somersaulted over Edgeworth’s head. Swords flashed in his peripheral vision and Edgeworth hissed, gritting his teeth and tensing against the searing pain as the two swords sliced a cut each into his back. Then Rakshasa was gone, zipping across the room. Gumshoe’s Shadow turned the heaving lump of flesh that served for its head to follow the demon, but Rakshasa was too fast. Edgeworth didn’t have time to watch, he ran to Kay immediately, but it wasn’t Kay who was hurt, it was Sekhmet. The cat had taken a spear for her and she lay motionless next to Kay, who was doubled over on her knees, gasping for breath.

“Kay!” Edgeworth touched her shoulder.

“Heal her,” Kay could barely speak but she managed to get those two words out. Her whole body was shaking.

Edgeworth looked at Sekhmet. The cat was still breathing, shallow and quick. A strange transparent substance flowed from the spear wound. Could he heal a Persona? Or was it Kay he had to heal? He didn’t know. He didn’t know, but he had to do something, he couldn’t just stand there, for God’s sake-

“The spear,” Kay managed. 

That was the prompt he needed to shake off the paralysis that had been starting to overtake him. He grabbed the shaft of the spear carefully, suppressing his nausea at the thought of having to do this. Sekhmet flinched but didn’t move. She somehow knew he was helping her.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her. At another moment, this would have seemed a ridiculous thing to say to a feline, but Kay was a living reflection of the amount of pain that her Persona was in, and he knew, from his own experience, how much this was going to hurt. He pulled. 

A low wail came from Sekhmet as the spear came out of her side, her ears flat against her head and her claws digging into the floorboards. It mixed with Kay’s yell of anguish, but the howling of the Shadow drowned them all out – Rakshasa had struck. Edgeworth yanked at one of the beads on Kay’s necklace – Sekhmet was close to death and no Macca leaf or paltry healing from any of his Personas would do enough to save her. He forced the bead into Sekhmet’s mouth.

“Chew,” he said quietly to her, stroking her head.

Chew, she did, and Kay collapsed forward onto her hands and knees as she was released from Sekhmet’s pain. She was sick, and Edgeworth turned away from her as best he could to give her privacy, although he couldn’t close his ears to the sound of her retching and sobbing at the same time. Rakshasa was a blur of red and steel, striking the Shadow over and over. It flailed at the demon with the few arms it had left, but it was still pinned in place by many spears and could do nothing against Rakshasa’s onslaught. Edgeworth tried to quell the satisfaction he felt at seeing it being hacked apart, for he knew it was not something he ought to take pleasure in, but after what they had both been through, he just wanted the damn thing dead. Sekhmet moved under his hand, and he took it away as the cat heaved herself to her feet. She padded over to Kay, nudging her with her head. Kay flung her arms around the feline, hugging her tight.

“I’m okay...” Kay hiccupped. “You’re okay... We’re okay...”

“We’re alive,” Edgeworth corrected her. “There’s a difference. Do you need more time?” Rakshasa had disappeared, and the Shadow was still standing. It only had two arms left, the others rendered jagged stumps by Rakshasa’s blades, but it had successfully managed to shield itself from Rakshasa’s attempts to behead it.

“No. We don’t have any.” Kay shakily got to her feet. “But I do need one of those horrid leaves.” 

He took one look at her bloodied arms, with their cuts on top of cuts, and gave her one without question, hiding a wince as the movement sent fresh pain through the cuts on his back. He had no Macca leaves to spare for those. He summoned Rakshasa again – this time for the demon’s strength against physical attacks. That, at least, had no cost to pay.

“Stay behind me for now,” he said to Kay, giving her a stick of Chewing Soul for good measure. “I can at least do some damage to it with the demon.”

“But the spears-“

“Four left,” Edgeworth pointed, then paled. “That’s not many.”

“Oh shit,” Kay started backing away as Gumshoe’s Shadow pulled two spears out of itself, then with a convulsive jerk of its body it wrenched the other two spearheads from the floorboards.

“Run!”

They split up, but Edgeworth knew Kay was the fastest runner of the two of them, and a quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that Gumshoe’s Shadow was after him. It wasn’t fast, but the sheer size of it made it easy for the Shadow to cover the ground. Fear spurred him on, his shoes crunching over broken glass as he made for the doorway. It wouldn’t stop the Shadow, not when it could just rip a hole in it like the roof, but it would at least buy him some time. He summoned Rakshasa again, stumbling forward as the demon charged him for the service required by opening another two wounds in his back.

But the Shadow was prepared for Rakshasa this time and sent both demon and summoner flying across the room with a wall of wind. Edgeworth hit the doorframe painfully and ended up in a crumpled heap, gasping for breath, he saw the Shadow raise its arm and flattened himself instinctively against the floor, but it never had chance to throw the spear it held, for Rakshasa had recovered and was upon the Shadow once more. The demon buried its blades into the Shadow’s flesh, ripping chunks out of its chest and spraying ichor across the floor. Kay ran over and tried to pull him up, but he jerked his hand out of her grasp in reflex response to the pain that ripped through his shoulder. Another wave of nausea threatened to take him, but he had to push that deep down and hide it from her, offering his other hand instead. Kay helped him to his feet.

“Your arm,” she said in alarm.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, even though he felt light-headed from being in so much pain. His arm hung uselessly by his side and he didn’t even need to look at his shoulder to know he’d dislocated it. “I don’t need that to fight.”

“That’s crap and you know it - you can barely stand up, I can see you swaying,” Kay pressed a bead into his other hand. “Take this,” she said. “I know I can’t make you eat it just for a busted shoulder but that thing might actually kill you, please, at least put it in your mouth so you can chew on it if something happens!” she gripped his hand tightly, looking at him pleadingly.

He took the bead but pushed her away.

“Get out of here, Kay,” he said, looking across at the Shadow. Rakshasa was still keeping it busy. “Take the Detective and leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Do you always have to be so stubborn?” Edgeworth snapped. “I mean it – there aren’t enough of these beads and Macca leaves to sustain healing both of us,” he gripped the bead in his hand, the third bead of the five that had been on the necklace. “Doing this alone minimises loss of life and is the most efficient use of the items we have.”

The two of them dived to either side as a spear thunked into the wall above them.

“Shut up with your bloody logic,” Kay retorted. “I’m not gonna _leave you to die_ just because you think it’s efficient!”

Edgeworth had no more time to argue with her, Rakshasa had disappeared and the Shadow was lumbering towards them. They split up again, flanking the Shadow on either side. It hurt so much to run, he could barely even see straight, his shoulder was so painful. An enormous ichor-splattered hand hit the floor immediately in front of Edgeworth – it was a lucky miss but he had nowhere to go, he just had time to clap his hand to his mouth and force the bead between his lips before the Shadow’s hand moved forward to scoop him up into the air, gripping him tight. 

“No!” Kay shouted from below.

Sekhmet appeared in mid-air, dropping onto the Shadow’s head to claw at its face and eyes. The Shadow cried out as it was blinded, but it had Edgeworth in one hand and a spear in the other. Edgeworth couldn’t even think anymore, his ribs cracked as the Shadow tightened its grip, sending pain shooting through his chest. He couldn’t breathe. Rakshasa appeared in front of him in response to the chaos of his thoughts, looking him up and down. Gripped as he was in the Shadow’s fist, his lacerated back was no longer exposed.

Edgeworth peered at the demon, his eyes glazing over as unconsciousness began to overtake him. He just about managed to nod. After all, nothing really mattered anymore. He bit down on the bead. Rakshasa nodded back to him, then drew his swords and brought them down upon across Edgeworth’s face. He blacked out in a sea of pain, and wasn’t even conscious for the moment that the Shadow ran him through with the spear.

He awoke on the floor, covered in ichor and his own blood. One of the Shadow’s arms lay severed on the ground next to him, the bloodied spear still in hand. The Shadow bellowed to the left of him, but when he tried to sit up the dizziness hit him straight away and he almost blacked out again. He turned his head to the left, catching sight of the Shadow on the opposite side of the room. Sekhmet had her claws dug into its back, and it was trying to reach around with its one remaining arm to try and pull her off, but the sheer muscle bulk of the Shadow’s arm made it impossible for it to get to her.

“Mr. Edgeworth!”

He lay back down again, turning his head to look for Kay. She was propped up against the wall not far from him.

“Kay!” his voice sounded like sandpaper, but at least he was alive. His face fell, however, when he saw the way the thief’s legs were awkwardly twisted as she sat against the wall. She was incredibly pale. “What happened while I was unconscious?”

“You weren’t unconscious. You were dead,” Kay said dully. “I watched you get impaled on that spear, right through to the shaft, and then you fell a good sixty feet, and _then_ you bled all over the floor for ages before I could get to you. There’s no way you could’ve survived that.” The soles of her boots were covered in blood. His blood. “I didn’t even see you eat the bead, I thought you were finished. You should’ve heard me when I got to you and found you were still alive,” she smiled grimly. “I was calling you every name under the sun.”

“I’m... sorry,” he didn’t really know what else to say.

“Just listen to yourself – apologising for being dead,” Kay looked at him, shaking her head. Then she suddenly laughed. “Hah! This place is messing with my head.” Her eyes were a little unfocused. She was in a lot of pain.

“What happened to you?” he asked.

“I was trying to move you out the way. I could see the damage was healing but it would’ve been all for nothing if you’d gotten yourself stomped on. But I got a bit stomped on myself,” she chuckled. “Sekhmet healed me a bit but she didn’t have enough spirit to fix up my legs.”

“But... why haven’t you taken a bead?” he saw the two remaining beads were still on the necklace.

“What’s the point?” Kay shrugged. “I’ll just get beaten up again anyway – we can’t escape that thing, it’s just too big. I can command Sekhmet perfectly well from here,” she winced as a fresh cut opened up on her arm. “The Shadow’s blind now so she can attack it wherever she likes, it can’t sense her like it can sense us.”

Edgeworth looked back at the Shadow again. Its face was a mess of scratches and slash wounds, mouth twisted in a snarl of pain and anger. It couldn’t see, it only had one arm left, it had ichor oozing from stab and slash wounds all over its body. And yet it was still standing. Sekhmet had clawed her way up onto the Shadow’s head, then sprang clear as the Shadow went to grab her, latching onto its arm and sinking her fangs deep into the muscle.

“How the hell is that thing still alive, after everything we’ve done to it?” he said weakly.

“Gummy always was pretty stub-“ Kay choked the word off with a sharp intake of breath, her hands flying to her ribs as a horrific crunch punctuated through the Shadow’s cries.

Sekhmet had been slammed against the wall, pinioned and crushed by the Shadow’s arm. She dropped like a stone, just about managing to right herself in the air before collapsing on the floor. She lay limp. Kay slumped forward, her head lolling to one side.

“Kay,” he tried to sit up again but black spots danced in his vision. He’d lost too much blood. In desperation, he pulled himself towards her, glass shards and splinters cutting his fingers as he gripped the broken floorboards. Pain ripped through his shoulder, the bead hadn’t solved the fact that it was still out of joint. The black spots came and went in waves, but he managed to get to her.

She had a faint pulse, her breathing shallow and irregular.

“Wake up,” he said to her, reaching up with a shaky hand to push her shoulder.

She didn’t respond. He pulled on her shoulder to topple her over to lie next to him, then pulled the penultimate bead off the necklace and forced it into her mouth, moving her jaw by hand to crush it between her teeth. Her legs shifted, righting themselves under the healing force of the bead. But she remained unconscious. He would need to heal Sekhmet, who was on the other side of the room, and he couldn’t even stand up. A cold, sick fear settled in the pit of his stomach.

_This is it, then._

He turned to see the Shadow stumbling towards them. It had pulled the last spear out of itself and held it in its one remaining arm. He reached a hand up to the fallen CCTV monitor that lay next to him, using it as a support to pull himself upright a little more.

“You,” it hissed at him. “This is all your fault.”

“Correct,” he replied slowly, looking up at the hacked-apart mess that was the face of Gumshoe’s Shadow, its eyes lifeless and unseeing. “You exist because of me.”

“You’re wrong,” it spat. “I’m not _allowed_ to exist because of you. He denied me, because of you, and now you’ve cut me to pieces. Was this what you wanted? To kill the parts of him you don’t like?”

“I accept the Detective for who he is. My failure is that I didn’t even consider the idea that he would want to be more than that.” There was so much more that he could say, but his energy was ebbing from him and he couldn’t find the words.

“Of course. Stupid old Gumshoe, useless at anything and everything – why would he even think he had a chance at the promotional exam? Why do you think he never told you?”

“Simple answer... He knew I would be surprised.”

“And think how much that hurts,” Gumshoe’s Shadow lifted the spear, pressing the point clumsily against Edgeworth’s neck. “To have that hope, to believe you have a chance, when everyone expects you to fail!”

“That conflict... that is the reason you exist,” Edgeworth said carefully, acutely aware of the cold metal next to his jugular. He was talking to save his life. “To have hope is to be human. But to err is to be human also. Making mistakes is in the Detective’s nature,” he continued, “but he also somehow manages to be in the right place to do the right thing when it truly matters. For that, I rely upon him. But I can’t have complete faith in him to pass that promotional exam, and he knows that. To do so would be just denying a different part of him. How can I reconcile that conflict, other than to kill you?” Silently, he opened his mind to Rakshasa.

 _You will die if you summon me again,_ the demon warned him. _You have no more blood with which to seal our contract._

“I convinced him to stay here,” Gumshoe’s Shadow took the spear away, leaving a thin cut to Edgeworth’s neck that started to bleed. “To tell you and that girl to leave. But at the sight of you his resolve crumbled, and he rejected me. Make him stay, and I’ll spare you.”

Edgeworth lifted his head with effort, dragging a hand to the rapier at his belt.

“I can’t do that. He will die if he stays here. I’m not leaving him to die.”

“But then he’ll be who he wants to be. I am him, and he will be me. No mistakes, all cases solved.”

“Then there is...” Edgeworth pressed his back against the wall, pushing himself upright with his legs. “...no reconciliation.” He swayed, drawing his rapier and leaning against the wall for support as his vision faded in and out and his dislocated shoulder throbbed with pain. “Have at you!”

“You fool,” the Shadow drew his arm back, spear held high. “You have but an ounce of life left in you, yet you still wish to fight?”

Edgeworth could barely see, barely think, was about to fall right back down again, but he managed a lopsided smile.

“I’ve fought all the Detective’s battles,” he said faintly. “Why should this one be any... any...”

“HAAAAAGH!” Something slammed into him, he felt his sword arm being seized and thrust forward, warm liquid spraying across his arm and hand, and then he was falling sideways and his rapier wasn’t in his hand anymore.

 _We’ve failed,_ he thought as he hit the floor.

There was a choking, gargling scream from above him. He opened his eyes and turned his head. His vision was blurred but he could see that Gumshoe’s Shadow was dissolving, his rapier sticking out of the centre of its chest. There was a movement beside him, and a hand was laid on his shoulder.

“...Boss?”

Gumshoe’s face swam into view in front of him. He looked anxious.

“Are you okay, Boss?”

Edgeworth closed his eyes, an involuntary smile of relief crossing his face.

“...the right place... the right thing... when it truly matters...” he murmured.

“Boss!” he was shaken from side to side. “No, you can’t be dying!” Gumshoe’s voice was full of anguish. “This is all my fault!”

Edgeworth opened his eyes again, raising one eyebrow at the Detective.

“As if anyone could die peacefully while you’re shaking them around like that.” His vision was a little clearer now, and his eyes widened at the sight of the broken spear sticking out of the Detective’s shoulder. “You’re injured.”

“Huh?” Gumshoe looked down at the splintered spearshaft sticking out of his shoulder. “Oh.” He reached up and tugged it out, sending a fresh gout of blood spraying from the wound it left behind. “That kinda hurt,” he looked at the spear. “But better it hit me than it hitting you, Boss!” he tossed the spear to one side.

Edgeworth stared at Gumshoe in disbelief. The spear wound was oozing blood and yet the Detective hadn’t even flinched when pulling it out. A figure in a black trenchcoat and a silver-banded trilby hat appeared, standing over them both. Gumshoe’s Shadow had his hands in his pockets, regarding the two of them.

“I just can’t tear you away from him, can I, Dick?” it said.

Gumshoe turned to look at his other self.

“I had it all wrong,” he said to it. “I mean, I’m wrong a lot, but this time it was a relief to be wrong. But you had it wrong too. Nobody should be so unhappy with themselves that they want to hurt people. For Chrissakes, you just about killed two people who I swore to protect with my own life, who came in here to bloody save me from my stupid dumbass self. How do you think that makes me feel, huh?” he demanded. 

His Shadow regarded him passively.

“I’d nearly rather you just went away forever, but I’ve gotta take responsibility for my own messed up head,” Gumshoe continued. “You,” he pointed at his Shadow, “are me,” he jerked a thumb towards his chest. “I get that now. You’re that bit of me that likes to dream about being a superhero some day. You’re the bit of me that was worried I’d made one screwup too many because of having my head way up in the clouds, that was scared of not being any use at all to anybody any more. And I didn’t wanna admit to myself I felt like that, because I thought I deserved whatever I had coming to me. But ya know what? I don’t. I don’t, ‘cause I don’t deserve to lose anybody important to me over stupid worries like that.”

He turned to Edgeworth.

“I should’ve told you about the exam, Boss. I was dumb and didn’t, because there was a bit of me that got excited about it even though I knew I’d probably fail it, and I knew you’da just told me not to get excited about it. Thing is, if I’d told you, you would’ve believed in me no matter what, whether I passed or failed or never even made it to the exam because of some stupid reason or another. I realise that now, after hearing everything you said just then. ‘Cause you don’t believe in whether or not I can or can’t do things – you just believe in me to be me!”

Edgeworth managed a nod. He could feel his strength starting to return to him, slowly.

“So whaddaya say, me?” Gumshoe extended his hand towards his Shadow. “I think I’ve found a little faith in myself now. And look, there’s some people right here who believed in me enough to come all the way here to save me, even when you’d just about persuaded me that I didn’t wanna be saved.”

The Shadow looked over at Edgeworth for a moment, its gaze questioning him. It was as if it knew what was to happen next.

"Wait a moment," Edgeworth said, then pulled the last bead off Kay's necklace. "Detective. Take   
this, and feed it to the cat lying over there," he held it out, slowly and deliberately, towards the Shadow.

Gumshoe opened his mouth to say something, but Edgeworth gave him a look. The Shadow smiled wanly, then took the bead, walking over and feeding it to Sekhmet. With an effort, Edgeworth finally managed to sit up, ignoring the fuzziness to his vision that came on with the change in posture. He reached towards Kay, who was starting to stir, and put a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Everything is fine, Kay," he said, but she jerked under his touch as she regained consciousness, rolling over on her front, scrabbling to get up, to run. “No, stop,” Edgeworth still had a hold of her shoulder but he was still weak and she wrenched it out of his grasp, he had to grab hold of a trailing scarf end to stop her in her tracks. “We’ve done it, there’s nothing to fight anymore!”

Kay was still mid-step, nunchucks raised, when this sunk in.

“Wait, we won?” she turned to look at him and got knocked over by a flying leap from Sekhmet, who then proceeded to nuzzle her face enthusiastically. “Ah, get off me, you big sook!” she pushed at the cat, scratching her behind the ears at the same time. “Gummy!” she exclaimed as she got to her feet, catching sight of the Detective. “You’re awake!”

“Kay!” Gumshoe smothered her in a massive bear hug that lifted her off her feet. “Hoo boy, I was worried you were a goner like the Boss!” He placed her down again, and it was then that she saw Gumshoe’s Shadow standing there.

“Don’t worry,” Edgeworth held up a hand to stop her before she could say anything. “Its power has been neutralised now. It and the Detective are one and the same, just like you were with your Shadow. In fact, it gave Sekhmet the last bead on your necklace to revive her.”

Kay bit her lip, looking at the Shadow warily, but Sekhmet trotted right up to the Shadow, as if recognising it was no longer a threat, allowing her to relax a little.

“So...” she looked between Gumshoe and his Shadow. “I guess you guys made up now?” she grinned.

“Almost,” Edgeworth replied. “I thought you’d want to be conscious to see this, Kay, as you were instrumental in making it happen. You can shake on it now, Detective,” he nodded to Gumshoe. “Something good will happen when you do, I am almost certain.”

Gumshoe turned to his Shadow, extending his hand with a smile.

“Put it there, partner!” he laughed.

His Shadow returned the smile, and they shook hands. Light filled the room, blinding them all after the twilight they had been standing in. When it cleared, a being fully clad in gold armour stood where Gumshoe’s Shadow had been. An ornate helm concealed its face from view, and the gold armour was covered in filigree engravings that swirled and shifted on the metal surface. A large two-handed sword was belted at its side.

“Whoa,” Gumshoe still had a hold of the knight’s gauntleted hand. He took a step back, releasing the knight, who made its hand into a fist and held it to its plated chest with a chink of metal against metal.

“The strength of heart required to face oneself, you have made manifest,” the knight intoned, its voice had a metallic echo. “I am Gilgamesh, the facade you use to overcome life’s hardships. My power is yours.”

“Well gee,” Gumshoe scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “It’s an honour, sir.”

Gilgamesh inclined his head to the Detective in acceptance, then faded into nothingness. With the knight’s disappearance, Gumshoe sank onto his knees, looking a bit surprised.

“Maybe I had a bad night on the booze,” he said absently. “Maybe that’s why I’m having this crazy dream and I can’t stand up anymore.”

“It’s okay, Gummy,” Kay patted him on the back. “I was really tired when I first got my Persona too!”

“So it’s not just me, then?”

“No, Detective,” Edgeworth replied. “It seems to be part and parcel of facing your true self.”

“Aw, shame,” Gumshoe sighed, looking tired. “I was kinda hoping I’d just made it all up.”

“You’ve learnt from the experience, have you not?”

“Well, yeah... but...” Gumshoe looked at his superior mournfully. “It wasn’t easy stuff to learn about myself, y’know?”

“Nothing’s easy learning for you, Detective,” Edgeworth said wryly, arching an eyebrow at him.

“I wish I had told you about the exam in the first place, Boss, then none of this woulda happened. I owe you a whopping great big apology.”

“For once, you actually don’t,” Edgeworth reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. “We were both keeping things from each other. Now all our cards are on the table, we can start again, can’t we, Detective?”

Gumshoe sniffled, then wiped his nose on the sleeve of his trenchcoat, smearing blood over his face.

“I don’t deserve to be trusted by you again, Boss,” he mumbled. “Just stick with Kay, she won’t let you down.”

Edgeworth smiled a little half-smile at this.

“Humph. I’ve been misplacing my trust in you for nine years now, Detective. I’m hardly going to stop giving you second chances now.”

“Really?” Gumshoe’s whole face lit up with joy. “Oh, Boss, I could just hug you right now!”

“Please don’t,” Edgeworth made a face. “I’m in enough pain without being crushed. Besides, what makes you think Kay’s a better investigative partner than you? She’s just as bad as you are for not doing what she’s told.”

“Hey, way to talk about the person who saved your ass from getting stomped on!” Kay folded her arms indignantly. “But you can join us now, Gummy!” she flashed him a big grin. “You’ve got a Persona now, so you can come with us and save people who’ve been chucked into the TV world!”

“Look at the state of us, Kay,” Edgeworth snorted. “We’re hardly a promotional advert for the investigative team – now is definitely not the time to be recruiting.”

The pair of them were covered in blood, sweat and Shadow ichor, splinters of broken floorboard and sparkling shards of glass spotted all over their clothes. Kay could just about stand up, and Edgeworth knew better than to try. Sekhmet had curled up in the corner and gone to sleep; she was exhausted.

“You mean...” Gumshoe was working it out, slowly, “this is what you guys were running off to do while I was stuck in the Detention Centre?”

“The whole point of you being in there was to stop you from ending up in here,” Edgeworth sighed. “Unfortunately the person responsible for putting you in here had more resources at their disposal than I anticipated. But now is not the time to discuss that – we must focus on getting out of here first.”

“Wait, hold the phone a sec!” Gumshoe held up a hand. “I just woke up in this place and had no idea what was going on – are you saying someone did that to me, and made you guys go through all this to get me outta here?”

Kay nodded. “Someone did the same to me as well, and the reason Mr. Edgeworth found out about all this was because there were these mysterious dead bodies appearing on foggy days and he was trying to get to the bottom of it. We didn’t want you to die, Gummy, that’s why we came to get you before the fog did!”

Gumshoe was seething. “Ain’t nobody gonna put my pals at risk anymore!” he slammed his fist on the floor. “No more innocent people dying in here!” he looked across at Edgeworth and Kay. “You said you’ve always fought my battles, Boss, but this time I can fight alongside you, and it’ll be our battle, together – all of us!”

“Team?” Kay held her hand high.

“Team!” Gumshoe high-fived her.

“See, Gummy never leaves me hanging!”

“You two and your ridiculous frivolity,” Edgeworth humphed. “Wait,” he suddenly realised there had been somebody missing from this conversation. “Where’s your walkie talkie, Kay?”

“Oh,” Kay pointed to one corner of the room where there was a pile of broken plastic. “It got totally crushed. Little Thief just about made it but I’m gonna need to repair it quite a bit. Poor Blue Badger, it must be worried sick about us!”

“Well, it must know we’re all still here and the Shadow’s gone,” Edgeworth pointed out. “Let’s get back to the entrance – I don’t know when other Shadows might start to move into this room and none of us are in any fit state for further fighting.”

In the end he had to summon Berith to get them all out of there, having instructed Gumshoe on how to tie his bloodied cravat as a makeshift arm sling to take the weight off his dislocated shoulder.

“Wow, you have a knight too?” Gumshoe exclaimed in surprise as Berith dismounted from the enormous horse that he rode astride of. “Whoa!” Berith lifted the big Detective effortlessly onto the horse’s back without a word. “Your knight’s pretty strong, huh?”

“That’s pretty much the only nice-looking Persona he has,” Kay said, hopping up in front of him. “All the rest of his look really revolting, seriously. Whereas yours looks really cool, Gummy!”

“I object to your insinuation!” Edgeworth protested as he was lifted into the saddle by Berith. “I have many excellent Personae.”

“That look ugly as all hell – like that squashy face thing you picked up the other day!”

“That one will come in useful!”

“Gummy’s still looks way more awesome.”

“A complete antithesis to the Detective himself.” _I’m not jealous. At all. Bah, who am I fooling?_

“Maybe I oughta invest in a black hat and coat!” Gumshoe declared. “Then I’d look more awesome.”

The other two turned to look at him thoughtfully as Berith led the horse through the HQ, Sekhmet padding along quietly beside them.

“Nah,” was Kay’s assessment.

“Your image would be in tatters,” Edgeworth agreed.

Gumshoe chuckled.

“You’re right, pals – it just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have my trusty coat on!”

“Besides, you hardly have the spare time to be thinking about reinventing yourself, Detective,” Edgeworth continued. “You have studying to do.”

“Uh, yeah, I do, come to think of it.” Gumshoe let out a long sigh. “Man, I’ve been reading the handbook for weeks now and I still can’t remember any of it.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, Detective,” Edgeworth said airily. “I will personally prepare you for this exam.”

“Er,” Gumshoe was on his guard straight away. “You will, Boss?”

“If you can survive a week under my tutelage, I guarantee you will have learned everything you need to know,” Edgeworth had a lupine smile on his face. “After all, von Karma teaching techniques are _very_ effective.”

“Uhhh, I’m sure I’ll manage, thanks all the same, Boss,” Gumshoe stammered, sweatdrops appearing on his forehead.

“I didn’t say refusal was an option, Detective.”

“Ohhh man,” Kay whistled, “you’re gonna wish you’ve never been born.”

“Oh sheesh, don’t I know it,” Gumshoe whimpered.

His protests were interrupted by the Blue Badger running into the hallway of the HQ’s ground floor as they arrived.

“OH I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!” the Blue Badger hugged the leg of Berith’s horse, tears rolling down its furry face (where those came from, none of them knew). “I feared the worst when the walkie-talkie broke, I really did, I thought you’d all end up in little itty bitty pieces!”

Kay slid down from the horse’s back to pat the Blue Badger on the head.

“Silly Badger,” she laughed, “you were worrying for nothing – of course we were gonna be fine!”

“Easy for you to say that now,” Edgeworth said blandly. “We blatantly weren’t.”

“Ah, it would’ve all worked out!” Kay waved it off. That was just how she was – no matter what hardships life threw at her, it was straight onto the next thing. “And we’ve got Gummy on our team now, so we’re even better than we were before!”

Gumshoe was staring at the Blue Badger, utterly confused. But like everything else that ever happened to him, he just shrugged and accepted it for what it was.

“Hey, little fella!” he waved at the Badger. “I’m Dick Gumshoe – nice to meetcha!”

“Ooh!” the Blue Badger exclaimed. “Is this the Gummy you were talking about? You got him out!”

“Yup!” Kay said proudly. “We rescued him!”

 _More accurately, he saved us as much as we saved him,_ Edgeworth thought, glancing at the Detective’s spear wound. It seemed to be healing as quickly as the damage he took from regular Shadows. Just like his Shadow, Edgeworth suspected that Gumshoe would be far more able to take a beating in battle than he or Kay ever could.

“Well, this is the only pair of glasses I have left,” the Blue Badger held up the fake-nose-and-moustache ones. “Here you go, Gummy, they’re all yours!”

“Swell!” Gumshoe took them and tried them on. He looked completely ridiculous. Edgeworth tried to suppress his amusement, but Kay burst out laughing, and that was it, he just couldn’t help himself. “Wow, the fog around here sure clears up when you look through these!” Gumshoe exclaimed, then heard Kay’s laughter and turned to catch sight of his boss doubled up in the saddle with silent mirth, shoulders shaking. “Hey, what are you guys laughing at?”

“I’ll have a proper pair for you next time,” the Blue Badger promised, although it was giggling too.

They arrived at the foyer, where the flat screen LCD TV stood in the centre.

“Hey, this was where I woke up!” Gumshoe exclaimed. “And then I walked for ages and found that little old house by accident.”

“That’s the telly that Mr. Edgeworth-“ Kay was cut off by Edgeworth clapping his free hand over her mouth.

“-agreed with Kay to never speak of again,” he finished for her, glaring at her. She winked at him.

Berith lifted them down from the saddle. Both Gumshoe and Edgeworth needed to lean on the knight for support.

“This is goodbye for now,” Edgeworth addressed the Blue Badger. “We all need to rest in order to come back fighting fit.”

“You’re coming back?” the Blue Badger said happily as it handed back their badges. “I was worried you might not, having rescued Gummy.”

“We scraped through that battle by the skin of our teeth. We all have a lot of training to do.”

“Then I’ll be there to support you!” the Blue Badger thumped a paw to his chest. “You can count on me! I’ll even get to work on some way of us staying in touch with each other that won’t get broken, so I can cheer you on no matter what!”

They bid the Blue Badger goodbye, and Berith helped them through the TV one by one. Edgeworth was the last to go, and he took one last look around the foyer, Berith standing next to him silently. The Blue Badger was already rooting through the piles of junk at the corners of the foyer, clearly intent on getting to work.

“Badger,” he said.

“Yes, sir?” the Badger replied, turning to look over its shoulder.

“If anyone else comes into this foyer between now and our return, keep your distance, but watch them. It might be the killer.”

The Badger trembled a little, but saluted as best it could.

“I’ll do my very best!” it said.

Satisfied that they now had a set of eyes in the TV world, Edgeworth allowed Berith to assist him into the TV. He felt Berith’s hands fade from his shoulders as he fell out of the TV onto his living room floor. The familiar feel of the carpet against his splinter-ridden fingers was an incredible relief.

“We’re in your house, Boss?” Gumshoe was looking up at the ornate ceiling.

“Correct. And that’s where you’ll be staying for the next few days until you’ve recovered.”

“The beds here are pretty comfy!” Kay said, picking herself up off the floor.

“Now let’s all get cleaned up,” Edgeworth said. “Then I have to come up with a tall story for the hospital about why I damaged my shoulder and need all these splinters and bits of glass pulled out of my hands.” His hands ached and no amount of healing power was going to get the little slivers out.

“Ooh, I’m good at tall stories,” Kay rubbed her hands together gleefully.

“Like hell I’m letting you come up with one.”

“But I’ve thought of a good one already!”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“A drive-by hardware store accident!”

“Implausible, nobody’s going to buy that.”

“Chopping firewood!”

“No, that makes me sound completely incompetent.”

“A garden gazebo subsidence!”

“Hmm, I’ll consider it.”

“I could totally engineer that with the one in your garden,” Kay grinned wolfishly.

“Don’t you even think about it!”

Gumshoe sat up carefully, looking around the elegant lounge room with its white furniture, wall-mounted sound system and well-watered pot plants. 

“...Wow,” he said, uncharacteristically quiet. “I’ve never even been to your house before, Mr. Edgeworth, never mind staying here.”

“Well, this is our main point of access to the TV world, so you’ll get used to it.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been doing all this and I never even knew.”

“I did say I’d kept some things from you. But that slate is wiped clean, and you know what's going on now.”

“This is pretty dangerous stuff to have kept to yourself, Boss,” Gumshoe shot him a worried look.

“You’re sounding suspiciously thoughtful, Detective – stop it.”

“But don’t you worry about what would happen if you died, Boss?”

“He doesn’t, ‘cause he totally loves to martyr himself,” Kay snorted.

“Says the girl who broke her legs trying to get me out of the way of being trodden on,” Edgeworth shot back. “But why worry about dying, when you have the choice to fight and survive?” Edgeworth spread his free hand out in a shrug. “You’ll understand more when you’ve had the chance to test your Persona in battle.”

Gumshoe tilted his head to one side, as if regarding Edgeworth from a funny angle would help him understand better.

“I’ve never seen you like this, Boss,” he said. “Have you accepted your other self too?”

Edgeworth gave him a tired smile. “More that I’m starting to better understand those around me. Even those I thought I already knew.”

_But I’ve still got a long way to go._

***

The End.


End file.
